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.