De Beers has issued its production and sales report for the first quarter of 2018, reporting an increased production of 15% to 8.5 million carats, “reflecting the ramp-up of production from Gahcho Kué in Canada […] and increased production from Orapa in Botswana […]”.
In Botswana, production increased 12% to 5.8 million carats. In Namibia, production increased 12% to 528,000 carats. In South Africa, production was in line with Q1 2017 at 1.1 million carats. Canada was the true star of the period, where production increased 69% to 1.1 million carats due to the ramp-up of Gahcho Kué, which reached nameplate capacity in Q2 2017.
As for sales, total rough diamond sales in Q1 were 8.8 million carats from two Sights, compared with 14.1 million carats from three Sights in Q1 2017. According to De Beers, “in addition to the difference in the number of Sights over the period, Sight 1 2017 also saw an unusually strong demand for lower value goods following the effects of Indian demonetisation in Q4 2016, leading to higher than normal sales volume”.
Full year production guidance remains unchanged at 34 to 36 million carats.
