Bankruptcy

Diamond Production Free-Falls 91%

By mcbride

?De Beers, the world?s largest diamond producer, reduced first-quarter output by 91 percent, according to Anglo American Plc, as the world economic slump cut demand for luxury goods.

Production slid to 1.08 million carats from 11.8 million carats a year earlier, London-based Anglo, which owns 45 percent of De Beers, said in a statement today. Anglo also said platinum output fell 5.8 percent to 404,000 ounces and manganese ore dropped 56 percent to 293,000 metric tons.

About half of the world?s diamonds are retailed in the U.S., where recession has crimped spending. Diamond prices fell about 16 percent in the past six months?.?

Here is a link to one article on this topic: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aQlX4v_feAP0

Michael

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on May 26, 2009 (boomark / email).