De Beers slashes rough diamond output for 2025

DE Beers slashed production guidance by as much as 40% to between 20 million to 23 million carats for the 2025 financial year.This was recognising there was little chance of a recovery this year after depressed rough diamond prices in 2024. De Beers will report “a marginally” negative Ebitda for the second half of the year under review (+$300m Ebitda in H1).The company, 85%-owned by Anglo American, also said it would book an impairment for the year after “assessing the impact of diamond market conditions and general fall in demand in China”. Anglo is due to report its year-end numbers on February 20.De Beers is reported to be carrying a rough diamond stockpile worth as much as $2bn. Commenting on its stockpile, Anglo said the De Beers diamond inventory reduced “slightly” year-on-year.“At De Beers, difficult rough diamond trading conditions mean that we have reduced production guidance in 2025 and 2026 to reflect our focus on value, working capital efficiency and cash generation,” said Duncan Wanblad, CEO of Anglo.Providing guidance for the year in Anglo’s 2024 production report on Thursday, Anglo said previous production guidance was 30 and 33 million carats. “De Beers continues to monitor rough diamond trading conditions and will respond accordingly,” Wanblad said.The diamond industry was pummelled by a 20% fall in the average rough price index. Consequently, De Beers reduced its own sales volumes about 28% and sold a larger proportion of higher value rough diamonds, increasing its average realised price for the year by 3% to $152 per carat.Anglo has announced plans to divest its stake in De Beers. Wanblad said in an interview on Monday that his preference was for a trade sale.“I favour a trade sale based on sentiment. Trader buyers have more of a feel [for the market] than the public,” he said. “But as markets recover, the public might get a lot more confident. There’s an equal option for both. I definitely would not discount an IPO.”In the year under review, diamond production decreased 26% to 5.8 million carats. Anglo said this reflected “the proactive production response to the prolonged period of lower demand, higher than normal levels of inventory in the midstream and a continued focus on working capital”.Rough diamond sold 4.6 million carats in the fourth quarter (including two sights that were rolled into a single sales event) generating rough diamond sales revenue of $543m. This compared to sales revenue of $230m in the fourth quarter of 2023 which consisting of two sights in which 2.8 million carats were sold.The post De Beers slashes rough diamond sales for 2025 appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com