It seems that wherever we are and whichever industry we deal with, all of them will be affected by the ongoing global crisis sooner or later. This is exactly what has happened recently to Debswana, a company that produces diamond in Botswana. The firm, owned by the government and a company called De Beers, is about to shut down two of its mines as there is no adequate demand which would satisfy the firm’s supply.
The closure of these two mines will affect approximately 600 hundred employees. The good news is that these employees, for whom redundancy is inevitable, will either be given another job at the company or be offered a very early, therefore voluntary, retirement. As De Beers said to BBC: "These actions are being taken to mitigate the effects of the global downturn by reducing production during 2009 to align with demand, conserving cash for the company, protecting employment and maintaining readiness for an eventual upturn in the market.”
De Beers is considered as the “diamond giant” in the diamond industry since it is the world’s largest diamond producer in terms of value. However, in their statement they said that the production of Debswana fell by 4% last year as more and more people are cutting their spending on luxury products. It seems that the recession caught up with the “rich and famous”.
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