Stunning news from the diamond industry. The world's largest diamond producer, De Beers, has reported a 99% drop in net profits for the first half of 2009. De Beers made only $3 million in net profit versus $316 in the same period just one year ago. They have also reported that the sales of rough diamonds were down by 57%."The industry has been severely impacted by the global economic environment being the most difficult in decades," said the company, which has cut its global workforce by 23% and temporarily halted production at mines in Africa and Canada.