Diamond miner De Beers has issued its production and financial performance report for the first half of the year, showing that underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 9% year-on-year to $712 million. De Beers attributed the fall to “unit cost increases […] driven by the impact of unfavourable exchange rate movements and waste mining costs […]”.
Total revenue was $3.2 billion, slightly better than H1 2017 ($3.1 billion). Sales were flat year-on-year at $2.9 billion. Rough diamond production increased 8% to 17.5 million carats. Forecast diamond production for 2018 remains unchanged at 34-36 million carats.
According to De Beers, “healthy diamond jewelry demand, combined with an ongoing focus on operational efficiency, supported the delivery of a solid performance”. The company added that “a positive outlook for the sector is expected, based on anticipated economic conditions and industry investment” and that “underlying market fundamentals remain strong in most of the main diamond consuming countries”.
