Diamond breakup: Namibia told to dump De Beers

Economist Robin Sherbourne has advised Namibia to consider buying out Namdeb and selling its high-quality natural diamonds independently of the De Beers system.

He said this while giving a talk on the state of the Namibian economy in Windhoek on Tuesday.

Namdeb (Namibia De Beers), the country’s largest diamond producer, is co-owned by the government and international conglomerate De Beers.

The company paid the government N$1.32 billion in royalties, corporate tax and export levies in 2025.

“The real question for Namibia is: Should we be aggregating our wonderful, top-class diamonds with the rest of the world’s diamonds? Do we bring their value up or do they bring our value down?” Sherbourne asked.

The price of natural diamonds have fallen dramatically in the past four years due to competition from laboratory-grown diamonds. The value of De Beers has fallen with them, with the company posting losses this year.

“Between 2023 and 2026, the value of De Beers came down from over US$9 billion to just over N$2 billion,” Sherbourne said.

Parent company Anglo American has been looking to sell its shares in De Beers since 2024.

“When that sale was announced, we should have done a study immediately to ask what our options as Namibia are,” Sherbourne said.
Namibia’s diamonds are 95% gem quality.

Their value per carat is much higher than the diamonds produced in neighbouring Botswana and South Africa, the economist says.

“Should Namibia be going it alone? Natural diamonds are going to be a niche market in the future.

Let’s perhaps break away from the De Beers system, cut some deals with the Indian diamond cutters and polishers, and go our own way as a very exclusive, niche natural diamond producer,” he said.

Sherbourne believes natural diamonds will struggle in future because sellers would need to establish luxury niche markets.
The question remains whether the government would be willing to invest to create those markets.

Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) founding chief executive Kennedy Hamutenya believes natural diamonds have a future as a niche luxury good.

“Natural diamonds will increasingly occupy the premium luxury segment where rarity, provenance, craftsmanship and emotional significance command value beyond the physical product itself,” he says in this month’s The Namibian Mining Journal.

Natural diamonds can continue competing as a luxury good because they continue to be scarce, he says, while lab-grown diamonds can be used for industry.

“Producing nations must work collectively to protect the integrity and reputation of natural diamonds as one of the world’s most unique luxury products,” he says.

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