Diamond rings are displayed in a cabinet inside a De Beers SA store in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. (CALVIN SIT / BLOOMBERG)

Anglo American Plc’s De Beers diamond business sold almost no gems in the second quarter, highlighting how badly the sector has been hit by coronavirus-enforced lockdowns.

The world’s biggest producer sold US$56 million of rough diamonds, down about 96% from a year earlier when sales totaled US$1.3 billion. With jewelry stores closed, cutters and polishers stuck at home and global travel at a standstill, the entire diamond industry essentially came to a halt in the period.

With jewelry stores closed, cutters and polishers stuck at home and global travel at a standstill, the entire diamond industry essentially came to a halt in the period

De Beers has made major concessions to its normal sales rules -- allowing customers to renege on contracts and view diamonds in alternative locations. Crucially, though, it has refused to cut prices. While the company’s average selling price fell 21% in the first half to US$119 a carat, that was mostly from mining and selling cheaper stones.

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Still, the miner is sticking with its plan to produce between 25 million and 27 million carats this year, but said the target was “subject to continuous review based on the disruptions related to COVID-19 as well as the timing and scale of the recovery in demand.”

Anglo American, which reported De Beers’s numbers in its first-half production report, lowered its full-year output targets for thermal coal and coking coal. It now expects to mine between 16 million and 18 millions tons of coking coal, down from an earlier goal of 19 million tons to 21 millions tons, after disruptions at one of its Australian mines. It trimmed its thermal coal target by 1 million tons.

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The company maintained goals for iron ore, platinum and copper.