De Beers Group reduced rough diamond production by 11% year-on-year to 6.8 million carats in the third quarter of 2026, citing planned maintenance in Botswana and a slowdown at its Venetia mine in South Africa ahead of a two-year production pause.<\/p>\n
The company reported improved trading conditions during the quarter, with a more balanced supply-demand landscape and stronger consumer demand in the US and India. However, lab-grown diamonds continued to weigh on demand for lower-value natural diamonds, particularly in price-sensitive categories.<\/p>\n
Production in Botswana fell 20% to 4.8 million carats, primarily due to planned maintenance at the Orapa mine. South African output declined 37% to 418,000 carats as Venetia reduced operations ahead of its planned pause. Namibia recorded an 8% increase to 495,000 carats, while Canadian production more than doubled to 1.06 million carats, supported by the processing of higher-grade ore at Gahcho Ku\u00e9.<\/p>\n
De Beers assumed full ownership of Gahcho Ku\u00e9 on 16 October following the enforcement of security over Mountain Province Diamonds\u2019 49% interest. The company will report 100% of the mine\u2019s production and sales from the fourth quarter, increasing its attributable figures without changing global diamond supply.<\/p>\n
Rough diamond sales revenue reached $731 million in the third quarter, up 4% from $700 million a year earlier. Consolidated sales volumes rose 91% to 8.7 million carats, compared with 4.6 million carats in the year-ago quarter.<\/p>\n
Despite the improvement in quarterly sales, the year-to-date average realised price fell 37% to $97 per carat. This reflected an 18% decline in the average rough diamond price index and a shift in sales mix compared with the previous year, when a higher proportion of higher-value goods had been sold.<\/p>\n
De Beers revised its 2026 production guidance to 25-28 million carats, from the previous range of 21-26 million carats, following the change in ownership at Gahcho Ku\u00e9. Unit cost guidance was also reduced to approximately $70 per carat from $80.<\/p>\n
The company said it would continue monitoring rough diamond trading conditions and adjust production to prevailing demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
De Beers Group reduced rough diamond production by 11% year-on-year to 6.8 million carats in the third quarter of 2026, citing planned maintenance in Botswana and a slowdown at its Venetia mine in South Africa ahead of a two-year production pause. The company reported improved trading conditions during the quarter, with a more balanced supply-demand…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-38592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulletin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n