
Billions of dollars of unsold diamonds are piling up around the world - Xplor
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/diamond-sales-miners-stuck-gems-worth-billions-dollars-coronavirus-2020-6-1029300342
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niklasd
Interesting read concerning that topic:
[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-
yo...](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-
tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/)

Its quite old (from 1982), but some things might still be relevant today. The
article leaves you with the strong impression that the market is highly
controlled by a few players, and a diamond is not really an asset you would
like to invest in.

~~~
toomuchtodo
This is all true today still. Just as OPEC controls oil supply, De Beers Group
controls the diamond supply.

~~~
dmurray
Equally true, all right. The US is the world's biggest oil producer, and
numbers 3, 4 and 5 on the list are non-OPEC members Russia, China and Canada
[0]. Similarly, Wikipedia attributes to De Beers a 36% market share in rough
diamonds [1]

[0] [https://www.worldometers.info/oil/oil-production-by-
country/](https://www.worldometers.info/oil/oil-production-by-country/)

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beers](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beers)

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supernova87a
I guess if you ask the question, "why are diamonds not traded as a commodity
like gold, silver, platinum, etc", you start to think they're not quite the
same value as people want you to believe?

~~~
thaumasiotes
It's not a perfect analogy; gold, silver, and platinum can all be melted,
reconstituted, combined, and separated without being damaged. Diamonds are
more unique than that.

They could be more commodified than they are, but they can never achieve the
commodification of a metal or a simple gas like e.g. nitrogen.

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sudoaza
The diamond market is a farce, there's no scarcity, they have almost no real
use and sinthetic diamonds are a thing for ages, the only reason it didn't
plummet is because the only artificial diamond manufacturer reached an
agreement with the sellers to mark them as fake

~~~
sukilot
Why would sellers and manufacturers agree to something only deBeers wants?

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sudoaza
Well at the moment they were already selling everything for industrial use,
now looks like there are more manufacturers of synthetic diamonds and they are
indeed selling them, only they tell people...
[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-diamonds-debeers-
syntheti...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-diamonds-debeers-synthetic-
analysis/lab-grown-diamond-prices-slide-as-de-beers-fights-back-idUSKCN1OK0MQ)

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octygen
So, serious question: if I was going to buy a ring for my girlfriend, would
this be a good time to buy?

~~~
andrepd
Moissanite my friend. Save money for things that you enjoy (travelling,
hobbies, concerts) and avoid funding a dirty industry (dirty in every sense of
the word).

~~~
runawaybottle
Explain that to his girlfriend, or any girl you’ve ever been with.

It just represents way too much in their heads.

~~~
andrepd
Bold statement to make about 3,500,000,000 people. That thinking rationally is
impossible for _their_ heads.

For what's worth my girlfriend already made it clear that she would be very
upset if I ever bought her such expensive jewellery, precisely because of lost
opportunity cost in things like enjoyable trips through Europe, attending
concerts/plays and that sort of actually meaningful experiences. So hey, there
goes your theory?

~~~
runawaybottle
I guess I was being a little tongue in cheek, but I’m mostly implying the
discussion is not as simple as ‘hey this is really expensive, what about this
cheaper alternative’. It’s a delicate thing because for many people it’s one
of four things they probably dreamt about their whole life - marriage, ring,
baby, house. There’s a lot of emotion behind all of it.

I’d love to be able to convince her that the ring money would do great in a
Vanguard fund instead :p.

Edit: Looks like I have to put this disclaimer, for many people the things I
listed above are milestones (not for all).

~~~
GaryNumanVevo
It's pretty offensive to assume that women just want "marriage, ring, baby,
house"

~~~
cambalache
Yes! There is money too

~~~
macintux
Let’s leave the misogyny somewhere else. Ideally nowhere, but definitely not
here.

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j45
Diamonds can wait forever too.

I wonder if the excess supply of diamonds would lower the price, since they're
such a valuable and rare commodity.

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_bxg1
If ever there were a moment for tiny violins.

~~~
aaron695
I saw one estimate there is one million people employed in diamond mining in
Africa.

What now happens to their families?

In India where diamonds are cut they also employ a million people.

What now happens to their families?

~~~
sho
What exactly is your point? That no evil enterprise is that bad so long as it
employs people? You will find yourself defending some pretty bad shit with
that argument.

~~~
aaron695
How about some respect is shown for the 2 million human beings I mentioned
working in developing counties who's jobs are at risk during what could be the
largest economic downtime in 100 years.

How about violins are not pulled out and instead we think about the million
(an estimate from a NGO) Africans who work in artisan diamond mines, their
work is horrific and vital to their families.

And something really hard, don't just ignore the fact their lives are ruined
because we hate De Beers and think about what happens now and how can we fix
this?

If you don't want to fix this, at least don't jump around with glee about the
fact lives are ruined.

~~~
sukilot
It's interesting that people are downvoting (from their computers made from
Blood Rare-Earth Minerals) you but no one is posting links to relief efforts
they've donated to or paid taxes for.

It's easy to martyr _other people_.

~~~
rowanG077
Ah yes, because you aren't allowed to criticize something unless you yourself
are perfect morally clean.

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drbojingle
If they're piling up they're not worth billions anymore.

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RodgerTheGreat
Sounds like they aren't worth billions of dollars anymore.

~~~
umvi
Well, if a single company manages to own all the piles of diamonds, they could
artificially limit supply to keep prices high.

~~~
JMTQp8lwXL
The company was De Beers and they no longer have a monopoly:
[https://www.diamondportfolio.com.au/investor-
centre/market-i...](https://www.diamondportfolio.com.au/investor-
centre/market-information/de-beers-monopoly-broken/)

~~~
Dahoon
No, but the sharing "partners" might as well be part of De Beers as diamonds
are still sold at prices way way above what they are worth. Like "selling iron
for gold prices" expensive.

~~~
sukilot
How can an optional* non-functional luxury good be sold for more than it's
worth?

*Worth to your lady, not to you Economically, the diamond is a token of wastefulness that serves only to destroy value as part of the human mating ritual. Bitcoin for women, but even less liquid.

~~~
JMTQp8lwXL
A bitcoin for women analogy might be generous; one diamond isn't fungible for
another one. There's sentimental value.

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yalogin
The main take away for me was that 4.5 billion dollars is just 2/3rd of the
annual worth of diamonds produced. Somehow I didn't expect that large a number
of diamonds to be even created let alone sold. People still buy a lot of
diamonds than needed (at least in my head).

