De Beers cautious despite profit

London: De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer, returned to a profit in 2010 as production rose 34% and diamond prices recovered to pre-crisis levels, although it remains cautious about the market this year.

It posted net earnings after one-off items of $598 million (€436.6m), compared with a net loss of $220m in 2009, after recovering a better-than-anticipated 33m carats as average diamond prices rose 27%.

De Beers had targeted production of about 30m to 31m carats for 2010.

“The price of rough diamonds has recovered strongly as confidence returned to most parts of the diamond pipeline,” the company said.

“Notwithstanding this, the industry is not back to pre-recessionary levels in terms of production or sales and a high degree of global uncertainty remains.”