Demonetisation will haunt diamond demand in 2017: De Beers

De Beers cut diamond production by 5% to 27.3 mn carats in 2016

De Beers, one of the world's top diamond mining groups, said on Tuesday that the demonetisation drive in India along with other factors in US and China will haunt the diamond market in 2017.

According to the mining giant's annual results for the year 2016, which was declared on Tuesday, De Beers has cut its production by 5 per cent to 27.3 million carats. Moreover, prices of rough diamond decreased by an average of 10 per cent to $187 per carat.

Despite a challenging global environment,  the company's sales and profit registered a sharp increase with its total revenue