The model of the diamond industry of the 21st century should be considered different from the model of the diamond industry of the 20th century. This is because there was a single company that monopolized the entire diamond industry.
Throughout the 20th century, the diamond industry was monopolized by De Beer, who has been considered by some to have used many clandestine methods to achieve and maintain this monopoly on the diamond industry.
It has been suggested that the company used various tactics to take control of the market, for example, it would buy diamond reserves that came from other competitors and then manipulate prices through old supply and demand.
Another clandestine method used was flooding the market with similar products from producers who refuse to join their monopoly.
At that time, the family of companies employed some 20,000 employers on five continents in different parts of the world.
The family of companies was involved in all aspects of the diamond industry, from the mining of diamonds to the sale of rough diamonds, distribution and production, as well as the marketing and manufacturing of jewelry.
The De Beer family is credited with selling around 40% of the world’s rough diamonds, which come from their own mines or their joint ventures with various governments.
Perhaps it is worth noting here for those who do not know, that it is not the name of a person, but it is the name of the company that was founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888 and that was founded by Lord Nathan Rothschild of the Rothschild Family.
Cecil Rhodes founded a company in 1871 during the Gold Rush days selling water pumps to miners. This took place in South Africa, where the largest 83.5 carat diamond was found in Kimberly.
Using the proceeds from this operation, he wisely invested in the purchase of claims from small diamond miners and another bold move.
It obtained more funds from Rothschild for a massive expansion and De Beer was created in 1888 with the merger of Cecil Rhodes and Barney Banarto, who subsequently became the owners of all mining production in South Africa.
Cecil Rhodes feared that one day someone would find another diamond mine and that is precisely what happened, entering the Cullinan mine, which was discovered in 1902 and was De Beer’s main competitor and later the cause of the end of De Beer’s monopoly. .
The mine owner declined an invitation to join the monopoly and opted to do business with Bernard and Ernest Oppenheimer, which dealt another blow to the De Beer cartel.
The Cullinan mine was so successful that they are credited with finding the second largest diamond ever found, the Cullinan Diamond, and its production soon matched that of De Beers.
However, as the business is, De Beer soon obtained ownership of the Cullinan mining industry sometime during WWI.
In 1902, after the death of Cecil Rhodes, the De Beer company controlled more than 90% of the world’s diamond production.
In 2000, several diamond producers in places like Australia, Canada, and Russia decided they had enough of De Beer and would look to distribute their diamonds outside of the De Beer cartel. It was this single act that brought the de Beer’s monopoly to an end.