By Ian Walker 



  Anglo American PLC said Friday that its majority-owned De Beers Group made nearly three times as much in sales of rough diamonds in the seventh sales cycle of the year as it did in the previous cycle, as buyers gear up for the year-end holiday season, supported by strong bridal-diamond jewelry demand across its markets. 


  The diversified mining company said diamond producer De Beers--which reports on 10 sales cycles each year--sold $320 million of rough diamonds in the seventh cycle of the year compared with $116 million for the sixth cycle. 


  Sales for the seventh cycle are provisional figures based on expected sales between Aug. 19 and Sept. 10 due to a change in the company's approach to diamond sales because of pandemic-related movement restrictions around the globe. 


  In the seventh cycle of 2019, De Beers sold $287 million of rough diamonds. 


  "Diamond markets showed some continued improvement throughout August and into September as Covid-19 restrictions continued to ease in various locations, and manufacturers focused on meeting retail demand for polished diamonds, particularly in certain product areas," De Beers Chief Executive Bruce Cleaver said. 


  He added that the recovery is at an early stage and that the company expects it to take some time to get back to pre-pandemic levels of demand. 


  Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com