In 2022, Petra Diamonds CEO Richard Duffy said the market for diamonds was undergoing a positive “structural change”. It was not a “bubble or a blip”. Rather, fundamental market forces of declining supply and improving demand were changing the industry’s fortunes.

Eighteen months later, Petra cancelled a diamond tender with buyers, citing “a temporary slowdown”. The market would recover, Duffy said. Then it didn’t. This month, De Beers suspended online diamond sales and said it would plough $20m into marketing gems ahead of the critical year-end buying season...

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