The diamond miner and marketer warned last week that it expected to be in the red after significantly cutting prices in Q2
De Beers Group took a loss in the first half of 2025 after it cut rough diamond prices by a significant amount in the second quarter in order to move goods.
The diamond miner and marketer’s H1 results were released Thursday as part of the first-half report for parent company Anglo American, which is in the process of offloading the De Beers business.
De Beers mined 10.2 million carats of diamonds in the first half of 2025, a 23 percent drop from 13.3 million in the prior-year period that reflects the company’s deliberate pullback on mining in light of the decline in demand.
Production fell 26 percent in De Beers’ top-producing country, Botswana, while production was down 43 percent in Canada.
It was flat year-over-year in Namibia and South Africa. De Beers said production in South Africa, where it operates just one mine now, is expected to increase over the next few years as operations ramp up in the underground portion of Venetia.
The company cut its full-year production forecast to 20 million-23 million carats (previously 30 million-33 million) early in the year, and that guidance remains unchanged through the first half of 2025.
First-half revenue totaled $1.95 billion, down 13 percent from $2.25 billion in first half of 2024, as rough diamond sales dropped 13 percent due to “subdued” demand and a decline in rough diamond prices.
The consolidated average realized price for rough diamonds was down 5 percent, from $164/carat in H1 2024 to $155/carat this year.
Declining prices and the impact of “stock rebalancing initiatives,” meaning assortments that were sold at lower margins in order to move out-of-balance goods purchased when prices were higher, pushed De Beers into the red in H1 2025.
The company recorded an underlying EBITDA loss of $189 million, compared with income of $300 million in the first half of 2024.
De Beers also noted that the first half of 2024 benefited from the one-off sale of an iron ore royalty right related to the Onslow Iron project in West Pilbara, Australia.
Looking at individual markets, De Beers said that overall rough diamond trading conditions have remained “challenged” so far this year.
There is a surplus of polished diamond inventory in the midstream (cutters and polishers/traders), and both midstream and downstream (designers/retailers) players are taking a cautious approach to buying amid the general uncertainty.
As the company noted last week when releasing its Q2 production report, polished diamond prices began to stabilize in the first quarter of 2025 and trading improved, but that momentum was lost in the second quarter as President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement created “increased uncertainty.”
De Beers said consumer demand for diamond jewelry was “broadly stable” in the first half of the year.
In the United States, it’s held steady, though De Beers noted that the full impact of the tariffs has yet to be realized.
In India, diamond sales grew by double-digits while the sales decline in China appears to be slowing and demand remains “robust” in Japan and the Gulf.
De Beers also gave brief updates on its individual business units.
It said that De Beers Jewellers, its retail chain that rebranded as De Beers London at the beginning of the year, opened a flagship store in the Dubai Mall in partnership with luxury goods retail giant Chalhoub Group in April.
Plans are underway to open a De Beers London flagship store in Paris.
Forevermark, which is transitioning from a diamond brand to a finished jewelry brand with a focus on India, plans to open four new stores in Mumbai and Delhi during the second half of the year, while it continues to wind down its legacy business globally.
Though De Beers did not mention Lightbox in its first-half report, the lab-grown diamond brand—launched in 2018 in a bid to regulate prices and create differentiation from natural diamonds—is nearing its end.
As of press time Thursday morning, the Lightbox website was advertising its “Farewell Sale,” set to end today, with prices up to 85 percent off.
It appeared to only have five styles left, with prices ranging from $70 to $1,040.