De Beers’ Production, Sales Increase in Q3

London—De Beers Group saw both sales and diamond production increase in the third quarter, though the results are not indicative of a turnaround in the market just yet.

The diamond miner and marketer reported that Q3 production totaled 7.7 million carats, up 38 percent year-over-year.

Driving the increase was higher production at Jwaneng in Botswana, the world’s richest diamond mine.

Jwaneng’s diamond output more than doubled year-over-year in Q3, rising to 3.2 million carats, as workers processed higher-grade ore in anticipation of extended plant maintenance in the fourth quarter.

In addition, there was one month of plant maintenance at Jwaneng in the third quarter of 2024, whereas the mine was fully operational throughout Q3 2025, De Beers noted.

Botswana is De Beers’ biggest diamond producer by a wide margin, generating 6 million carats of diamonds in the third quarter, a 51 percent year-over-year increase.

South Africa, where it operates the Venetia mine, is its second-largest producer, generating 659,000 carats in the third quarter, a 28 percent increase. De Beers said it is now processing more higher-grade ore from the mine’s underground expansion.

Production in Canada, home to the Gahcho Kué mine, decreased 15 percent to 511,000 carats due to planned treatment of lower-grade ore while production in Namibia was flat at 457,000 carats.

Production guidance for the full year remains unchanged at 20 million-23 million carats.

On the sales side, De Beers said rough trading conditions continued to be challenging in the third quarter.

The company’s rough diamond sales volume more than doubled (5.7 million carats in Q3 2025 vs. 2.1 million in Q3 2024) and revenue more than tripled, increasing from $213 million to $700 million.

However, the increase wasn’t due to improvement in the market but rather to the fact that De Beers held two sights in Q3 2025 compared with just one a year ago.

It also continued to sell goods at a discount as part of its “stock rebalancing” initiatives, with the average realized price slipping 3 percent to $155 per carat year-to-date and the average rough price index dropping 14 percent.

De Beers said after picking up in the first half of the year, trade in Q3 was “undermined” by the United States’ new tariff on imports from India, which rose from the baseline 10 percent to 25 percent on Aug. 1 and then jumped another 25 percent on Aug. 27. 

News came in September that natural diamonds are included in a list of goods that could be eligible for exemption from tariffs (Annex III), but the exemption will apply only to goods from countries that reach a trade agreement with the U.S. 

While the midstream continues to grapple with the effects of tariffs on already thin margins, De Beers said consumer demand for natural diamond jewelry remained “stable” in the U.S. and “broadly stable” globally. 

De Beers shared its third-quarter production results last week.

This week, the diamond miner and marketer announced that Chief Operating Officer Burger Greeff will retire at the end of the year after more than 30 years with De Beers.

Greeff joined the company in August 1993 as a senior research officer at De Beers Consolidated Mines.

Over the years, he has held numerous pivotal leadership roles across the business, including senior research manager: strategic, general manager at De Beers Marine SA, and executive head of technical and sustainability.

Kevin Smith, who is currently executive vice president of corporate affairs and strategy, will become interim COO, while Eirik Waerness, currently the company’s senior vice president and chief economist, will move into Smith’s role in an acting capacity.

Both changes will be effective starting Dec. 1.

Greeff is the second long-serving executive whose departure De Beers has publicly announced in recent weeks.

In early October, De Beers announced that Feriel Zerouki, who has been with the company since 2005, would be leaving at the end of the month.