De Beers’ total revenue for the full year 2022 went up 18% year-on-year to $6.6 billion, Diamond World reports.
Rough diamond sales grew 22% year-on-year to $6 billion, “reflecting strong demand for rough diamonds, particularly in the first half of the year, with the midstream replenishing stocks following strong consumer demand over the 2021 holiday season,” according to De Beers.
In volume terms, rough diamond sales dropped 9% to 30.4 million carats. The average realized price went up 35% to $197 per carat, “driven by growth in the rough price index, as well as selling a larger proportion of higher value rough diamonds in the first half of the year.”
Underlying EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) went up 29% to $1.417 billion, “reflecting overall positive consumer demand for diamond jewelry.”
Rough diamond production went up 7% to 34.6 million carats, reflecting “strong operational performance and higher planned levels of production […]”.
In other De Beers related news, the diamond miner said recently that its agreement with Botswana, under which it sells 75% of the country’s rough diamonds, “will survive the current turmoil” and that it was “confident that our successful partnership will continue”. Recently, Botswana threatened to walk away from its deal with De Beers unless it can get “more favorable” terms.
