De Beers positive about Asian markets

Diamond sales in the first quarter of 2013 were ‘slightly better’ than last year, driven by Chinese New Year and a revival in demand in the United States.
De Beers positive about Asian markets

De Beers recently held a meet & greet with Varda Shine, Executive Vice-President, De Beers Global Sightholder Sales and Mahiar Borhanjoo, Executive Director of Sales & Sightholder Services, De Beers Global Sightholder Sales in Mumbai.

On the occasion, Varda Shine informed that the production at its Venetia diamond mine, the biggest in South Africa, should return to normal in the second half of 2013, keeping its production steady at 2012 levels. The company produced 4 million carats of diamonds in South Africa last year, of which 3 million carats were mined from Venetia. In February, the company invested $2.27 billion in the mine, which will extend the life of the mine until 2042 but production has been disrupted by heavy rainfall. "South Africa had the worst rain in the last 200 years and our big mine Venetia had 23 metres of water, so therefore our production was slightly lower," added Varda Shine.

The company produced a total of 27.9 million carats in 2012 from its mines in Botswana, South Africa and Canada, controlling around 40 percent of the global rough diamond market. De Beers' total sales fell 16 percent to $6.1 billion in 2012. Core earnings dropped 39 percent to $1.08 billion. She further informed that its diamond sales in the first quarter of 2013 were ‘slightly better’ than last year, driven by Chinese New Year and a revival in demand in the United States. Forecasting a single-digit increase in rough diamond prices this year, after a 12 percent fall in 2012, she added, "Over the last 20 years no new big (diamond) mine has been discovered, we have also seen the emergence of Asian markets like China and India," referring to reasons for its bullish price outlook.


Follow DiamondWorld on Instagram: @diamondworldnet
Follow DiamondWorld on Twitter: @diamondworldnet
Follow DiamondWorld on Facebook: @diamondworldnet

logo
Diamond World
www.diamondworld.net