De Beers will cut output in the second half of the year after a weak market pushed the world’s largest diamond company to a loss of 123 million dollars (about M2.05 billion), a downturn that also shadows Lesotho’s high-value diamond mines.
Staff Reporter
De Beers has reported a half-year loss of 123 million dollars (about M2.05 billion), as continued weakness in the global diamond market weighed on the company.
Chief Financial Officer Niranjan Mylvaganam said the results reflect difficult trading conditions, including lower diamond prices, geopolitical tensions that have pushed up oil prices, and the impact of United States tariffs.
The company sold more diamonds during the period. Even so, Mylvaganam said De Beers will reduce production in the second half to bring output in line with demand.
What drove the De Beers half-year loss
Consolidated revenue for the six months fell 23 percent to 1.31 billion dollars (about M21.9 billion), parent company Anglo American reported. The average consolidated selling price dropped 32 percent to 105 dollars per carat (about M1,754), on a 16 percent fall in the rough-price index and a sales mix weighted towards lower-value goods.
Sales volumes rose over the period, but the lower prices left the value of those sales below a year earlier. Lab-grown stones continued to pull demand away from cheaper natural diamonds.
Anglo American, which owns De Beers, pointed to a darkening backdrop for the trade.
“The geopolitical and macroeconomic landscape remains uncertain, with the onset of the conflict in the Middle East adding to economic and consumer-confidence risks.”
Anglo American, in its results statement
Where production will fall
Production rose in the first half, up 46 percent to 14.9 million carats, helped by a favourable comparison with 2025, when the Orapa mine in Botswana was shut for extended maintenance. De Beers said planned plant maintenance at Orapa and Jwaneng, both in Botswana, and a proposed production pause at the Venetia mine in South Africa will lower output in the second half. Full-year guidance stays at 21 million to 26 million carats.
The results land while Anglo American runs a sale process for De Beers. Botswana, which holds 15 percent of the company and supplies most of its rough, has signalled it wants a larger stake, and Angola is pursuing a holding of its own.
Why it matters for Lesotho
Lesotho does not host a De Beers mine, but its producers sell into the same rough market. Mines such as Letšeng, Mothae, Kao and Liqhobong specialise in large, high-value stones, the part of the market Anglo American said held up better than cheaper goods.
Weak prices have already reached local accounts, with Letšeng’s operator reporting a sharp fall in profit. The sector pays royalties and, in some ventures, dividends to the government, so a longer downturn would weigh on public revenue.
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Source: De Beers Group, second-quarter production report
Currency converted at a mid-market rate of about M16.70 to the US dollar.
