{"id":1178,"date":"2026-02-23T05:58:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T05:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/?p=1178"},"modified":"2026-03-21T15:37:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:37:44","slug":"de-beers-511m-loss-diamond-demand-slump-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/de-beers-511m-loss-diamond-demand-slump-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"De Beers posts $511m loss as diamond demand weakens"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-summary\" style=\"background: #F9F9F9; border-left: 4px solid #1e6bb8; padding: 16px 20px; margin-bottom: 24px; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 0.95em; line-height: 1.6; color: #212223;\">\n<ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 20px;\">\n<li>De Beers reported a $511 million loss as global demand for diamonds weakened.<\/li>\n<li>Lower buying from China and economic uncertainty reduced sales across key markets.<\/li>\n<li>The downturn is raising concerns for diamond-producing countries that depend on mining revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>DE BEERS has reported a staggering loss of $511 million for 2025, a significant drop from the $25 million loss recorded the previous year.<\/p>\n<p>This downturn has been largely attributed to weak demand from China and declining rough diamond prices, which have severely affected sales.<\/p>\n<p>According to the annual results from the company\u2019s parent, Anglo American, revenue has plummeted to $3.5 billion, down from $4.3 billion in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Rough diamond production has also taken a hit, falling by 12% to 21.7 million carats. This is about 3 million carats less than the year before as the group scaled back output to align with the softer demand.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Executive Al Cook noted that this downturn is a result of \u201ca prolonged slowdown in China and continued cautious buying in the midstream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Historically, China has been one of the largest markets for diamond jewellery globally, but a property crisis coupled with slower economic growth has dampened luxury spending.<\/p>\n<p>Bain &amp; Company\u2019s latest Global Diamond Report indicates that global demand for diamond jewellery fell in 2024, with Chinese consumption remaining lacklustre.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts have pointed out that this slump has led to high inventories throughout the polishing and trading pipeline.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemand recovery has been slower than expected, particularly in China,\u201d said Paul Zimnisky, an independent diamond industry analyst. \u201cProducers have had to adjust supply to stabilise the market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On top of weak demand, diamond miners are also facing increasing competition from lab-grown stones, which have been gaining traction in the United States, the largest market for bridal jewellery.<\/p>\n<p>Bain estimates that lab-grown diamonds now represent more than 15% of global diamond jewellery sales by value, marking a structural shift that has put additional pressure on the prices of natural stones.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, trade uncertainty has cast a shadow over the industry.<\/p>\n<p>Executives have cautioned that proposed U.S. tariffs on luxury goods and jewellery imports could disrupt global supply chains, although no widespread tariffs on rough diamonds have been put into effect.<\/p>\n<p>The downturn comes as Anglo American takes a closer look at its portfolio and gears up to either spin off or sell De Beers as part of a wider restructuring effort.<\/p>\n<p>The miner revealed plans in 2024 to streamline its operations and concentrate on copper and iron ore.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts suggest that selling during a period of weak pricing could prove to be quite tricky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTiming will be critical,\u201d noted Ben Davis, a mining analyst at Liberum. \u201cThe diamond market is cyclical, and buyers will take current conditions into account when determining value.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Botswana, which depends on diamonds for about a third of its government revenue and the majority of its export earnings, is working to gain more control over marketing through its state-owned Okavango Diamond Company.<\/p>\n<p>The Bank of Botswana has cautioned that declining diamond sales have impacted fiscal revenues and economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>Smaller producers are also tightening their belts and postponing expansion projects as financing becomes increasingly difficult to secure.<\/p>\n<p>Industry representatives believe that recovery depends on consumer confidence in China and the reduction of inventory in major trading centres like India and Belgium.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is long-term demand for natural diamonds,\u201d Cook said. \u201cBut the market needs time to find its balance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/south-african-blue-diamond-discovery-reveals-value-gaps\/\">Diamonds continue to be a vital source of foreign exchange for Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa<\/a>, making price stability essential for fiscal planning throughout the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>De Beers reported a $511 million loss as global demand for diamonds weakened. Lower buying from China and economic uncertainty reduced sales across key markets. The downturn is raising concerns for diamond-producing countries that depend on mining revenue. DE BEERS has reported a staggering loss of $511 million for 2025, a significant drop from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"4","show_post_tag":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"China slowdown, lab\u2011grown rivals, and tariff pressures weigh on Africa\u2019s top diamond producer"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":{"paragraph_limit":"2","enable_premium_post":"0","enable_free_post":"0","override_paragraph_limit":"0","enable_preview_post":"0","enable_preview_video":"0"},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,371,381],"tags":[240,239,241],"class_list":["post-1178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-company-updates","category-diamonds","category-finance-investment","tag-de-beers","tag-diamonds","tag-global-markets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1178"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1186,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178\/revisions\/1186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zimining.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}