De Beers rough production and sales rose during the first part of the year buoyed by price cuts and recovery at key Debswana mine in Botswana.
The company said in its Production Report for the First Quarter of 2026 that diamond production increased by 17% to 7.1 million carats while sales were better than first quarter of 2025.
“In Botswana, production increased by 5% to 4.8 million carats, as a result of higher recovered grade at Orapa. Jwaneng production was broadly consistent with the comparative period.
“Namibia’s production decreased by 12% to 0.6 million carats, due to scheduled maintenance on two vessels at Debmarine Namibia along with the impact of decommissioning two vessels in 2025.
“In South Africa, production at Venetia increased by 53% reaching 0.7 million carats, largely as a result of processing higher volumes of underground ore.
“In Canada, production increased to 1.0 million carats, reflecting the planned ore release in Gahcho Kué from a new area of the mine,” the report stated.
Although rough diamond trading conditions continued to be challenged due to ongoing industry, geopolitical and tariff headwinds, sales improved during the period.
“Rough diamond sales in Q1 2026 totalled 7.7 million carats (6.4 million carats on a consolidated basis) from two Sights, generating consolidated rough diamond sales revenue of $648 million. This compares with two Sights in Q1 2025 of 4.7 million carats (4.2 million carats on a consolidated basis), generating $520 million of consolidated rough diamond sales revenue,” the company said in the update.
De Beers noted that the consolidated average realised price declined by 19% to $101/carat, primarily driven by a 17% decrease in the average rough price index (which is now reported including the impact of the stock rebalancing actions) as well as a sales mix with a higher proportion of lower value goods.
Production guidance for 2026 is unchanged at 21–26 million carats (100% basis) and the company said it will continue to monitor rough diamond trading conditions in order to align output with prevailing demand.