De Beers has announced trending performance report for the first quarter of 2025 on 25 April 2025. Rough diamond sales from two signs in Q1 2025 totalled 4.7 million carats, generating consolidated rough diamond sales revenue of $520 million. Compared with two sights in Q1 2024 of 4.9 million carats, generating consolidated rough diamond revenue of $925 million, sales in Q1 2025 down 44 percent.
The consolidated average realised price decreased by 38 percent to $124/carat, reflecting the impact of a change in sales mix, stock rebalancing, as well as a 15-percent decrease in the average rough price index.
According to De Beers, consumer demand for diamond jewellery in the United States over the year-end holiday season was in line with expectations, however, rough diamond demand in the first quarter remained subdued as the midstream continued its cautious approach to restocking due to excess loose polished diamond inventory. While there were signs of loose polished diamond prices stabilising towards the end of the quarter, lifting industry confidence, ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, in particular the impact of US tariffs, will likely result in continued cautious sightholder purchases in the near term. The group continue to manage the business to preserve cash while maintaining underlying value.
In terms of operational performance, De Beers rough diamond production decreased by 11 percent to 6.1 million carats, reflecting the continued production response to the prolonged period of lower demand. In Botswana, production decreased by 8 percent to 4.6 million carats, as a result of the planned actions to lower production. Production in Namibia is broadly unchanged, with planned actions to lower production at Debmarine Namibia offset by planned mining of higher grade areas and better recoveries at Namdeb. In South Africa, production decreased by 19 percent to 0.5 million carats, due to changes in shift configuration as well as the impact of the heavy rainfall and flooding in January 2025 which temporarily restricted access to the mining operations. Production in Canada decreased by 40 percent to 0.4 million carats due to planned treatment of lower grade ore. (Photo courtesy: De Beers)
30-04-2025
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