The world’s most famous diamond company is ‘exiting’ as prices collapse 32%
Key Points
- De Beers recovered 7.8 million carats in Q2 2026, an 88% jump on the same quarter last year, even as its average realised price collapsed 32% to $105 per carat.
- Parent company Anglo American expects De Beers to post negative underlying EBITDA for the first half of 2026.
- Quarterly rough diamond sales revenue fell 44% to $665 million, down from $1.2 billion a year earlier.
- Lab-grown diamonds continue to erode demand for cheaper natural stones, and De Beers now plans to pause production at its Venetia mine in South Africa.
- Anglo American is pressing ahead with the sale of De Beers while cutting costs and capital expenditure across the diamond business.
De Beers dug up 88% more diamonds in the second quarter of 2026 while the price it fetched for them fell by nearly a third, and parent company Anglo American now expects the business to lose money in the first half of the year.
The FTSE 100 miner’s latest production report shows De Beers recovered 7.8 million carats in the three months to 30 June 2026, up from 4.1 million a year earlier.
Over the first half, output climbed 46% to 14.9 million carats. At the same time, the consolidated average realised price dropped 32% to $105 per carat, while the De Beers rough price index fell 16%.
Three sites in the quarter generated $665 million in consolidated rough diamond sales, down 44% from the $1.2 billion De Beers booked from the same number of sites in Q2 2025. Anglo American confirmed alongside the numbers that it expects underlying EBITDA from De Beers to be negative for the first half of 2026.
Why prices are falling
The production jump partly reflects a weak comparative quarter, when an extended maintenance shutdown at Orapa in Botswana suppressed output.
Botswana production more than doubled to 5.5 million carats in Q2 2026, helped by planned mining of higher grade ore at Jwaneng, while Gahcho Kué in Canada nearly tripled its contribution to 1.0 million carats after opening up a new, higher grade mining area.
Anglo American said rough diamond trading conditions remained challenging throughout the first half, with the conflict in the Middle East adding to economic and consumer confidence risks.
Synthetic lab-grown diamonds continued to hit demand for lower value natural stones, squeezing the price sensitive end of the market, although stronger pricing for higher value goods kept the overall price index stable through the period.
A sales mix skewed towards cheaper goods, driven by the current inventory, dragged the average realised price down further.
A business heading for the exit
De Beers sits in what Anglo American now labels its “exiting businesses” alongside steelmaking coal and nickel.
Chief Executive Duncan Wanblad said the group is progressing the sale process for De Beers while simultaneously streamlining the business to improve cost performance and cutting capital expenditure to limit the damage from what he called challenging diamond markets.
De Beers announced on 13 July that it proposes to pause production at its Venetia mine in South Africa in the second half of the year, despite the operation lifting output 24% in the quarter.
Planned plant maintenance at Orapa and Jwaneng over the same period will substantially cut production from current rates.
Full-year guidance remains unchanged at 21 to 26 million carats at a unit cost of around $80 per carat, with De Beers continuing to monitor trading conditions to match output to whatever demand it can find.
