De Beers’ False Scarcity is a Woman’s Best Friend

by Chris Abraham on 21/02/2009 · 0 comments

The Tiffany Setting in Platinum by Tiffany and Company
Even though I know that diamonds are common and that the value of diamonds is based on false-scarcity and multi-billion-dollar global marketing campaigns, I still want to buy my future wife a big-ass Tiffany solitaire.  However, diamonds are losing value like a lead brick, so even the biggest profit center on the planet, De Beers, is doing some borrowing (via Luxist):

De Beers, has announced plans borrow $500 million from Anglo American Plc and other shareholders to bulwark itself against a falling gem market. The loan is a preventative measure in response to the fact that jewelry sales are plunging around the world. Diamond prices have already dropped, some say by as much as 50 percent and exports are down across the globe. De Beers has already cut the amount of rough stones it is offering to clients by half until April and has enacted production slowdowns at several of its mines. It is being predicted that diamond demand might not rise until the end of 2010 and even that may be optimistic.

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