De Beers Slashes 2025 Production Guidance by a Third
February 07, 25
(IDEX Online) - De Beers has slashed its production guidance for 2025 by around a third and says it expects to report a loss for 2024.
It also said it was considering an impairment of its carrying value as a result of weak diamond demand, especially in China.
It offered little hope of a recovery in the diamond industry in its Production Report for the Fourth Quarter of 2024 published yesterday (6 February).
De Beers said it expected to make a loss for the full year 2024, predicting a "marginally negative" EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization). It made a $300m loss in the first half of the year.
In production terms the UK-based miner now expects to recover 20m to 23 carats in 2025, down from its original 30m to 33m carats, to reflect "the challenging rough diamond trading conditions".
It also reported a 26 per cent reduction in last year's Q4 production, down from 7.94m carats to 5.83m carats.
De Beers also said production in Botswana - which accounts for almost three quarters of all its diamonds - fell by 31 per cent during the quarter.
Earlier this week both sides announced that they had finally reached agreement on a decade-long rough sales agreement.
De Beers also reported $543m revenue during Q4 after rolling sights 7 and 8 into one (it no longer reports individual sights).
That a 32 per cent drop on the corresponding sights (7, 8, 9 and 10) in 2023.
"Challenging trading conditions persisted through the quarter as cautious retailer purchasing and higher than normal levels of inventory in the midstream suppressed demand for rough diamonds," the company said.