Anglo American has predicted a strengthened growth in diamond jewellery demand in 2014, with the United States and China as the main forces behind while India, however, will continued to face pressures, the mining giant said on its 2013 preliminary results released dated 14 February 2014.
Operating profit of De Beers, 85 percent owned by Anglo American and the rest by the government of Botswana, totaled US$1,003 million in 2013, an increase of 112 percent compared with 2012, according to the results.
“Despite global macro-economic uncertainty, diamond jewellery sales increased in local currency terms in all major diamond markets, except India. In India, challenging economic conditions and a devaluation of the rupee resulted in a decline in demand. The US market posted positive growth, with a generally strong holiday season in the fourth quarter. China continued to show positive growth rates, but at levels consistent with slower economic development.”
When addressing the rough diamond price trends last year, Anglo American said: “Although the De Beers rough price index increased slightly in the first half, a combination of weaker polished prices, high levels of stock in the cutting centres and tightening liquidity resulted in some of this increase being reversed in the second half. The price decrease, together with an increase in polished sales, saw the rough market stabilize and start to improve toward the end of the year.”
In terms of mining, De Beers’ full year production increased by 12 percent to 31.2 million carats from 27.9 million carats in 2012.
De Beers’ sales increased slightly to US$6.4 billion in 2013, compared to US$6.1 billion the year before. Its rough price index was up 2 percent over 2013, while average realized rough price increased 5 percent.
For De Beers’ jewellery brand Forevermark, it recorded strong growth in 2013 with door numbers up by 39 percent in 2012. “The growth was driven primarily by the core markets of the United States, China, Japan and India,” said Anglo American.
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