Independent diamond miner Petra Diamonds reported $44 million in revenue from its sixth tender cycle for the 2024 financial year, selling 371,000 carats.
CEO Richard Duffy noted that like-for-like prices were down 2.6% from Tender 5, reflecting a seasonally quiet period with muted demand due to Indian holidays and the slow recovery of the Chinese market.
“We continue to see evidence of market stabilization and are cautiously optimistic that demand and pricing will improve towards the end of this calendar year. We plan to conclude a seventh sales cycle before the end of June,” Duffy stated.
Total year-to-date revenue from rough diamond sales stands at $329 million, compared to $316 million from the first five tenders of FY2023, excluding carats produced at the Koffiefontein mine in South Africa. Koffiefontein is currently on care and maintenance pending a potential sale following a definitive sales agreement announced in April.
Year-on-year volume variances for FY2023 were influenced by the deferral of certain parcels, which were sold as part of Tender 1 of FY2024.
Like-for-like rough diamond prices for the sixth sales cycle fell by 2.6% compared to the fifth tender, primarily due to seasonal weakness across nearly all size categories.
Average like-for-like prices for the six tenders this year were down 8.6% compared to the equivalent tenders of FY2023.
Petra attributed the balance of price movements to product mix, with average prices per carat received being 13% lower than the previous tender, largely due to the absence of a 14.76 carat exceptional blue diamond, which sold for $8.2 million in the previous tender.
Although the average price at the Williamson mine in Tanzania was up 3% compared to the previous tender, overall average prices for this cycle were affected by a reduced occurrence of higher-value single diamonds. Petra expects this reduction to be temporary, linked to the specific mining areas currently being accessed.
Pricing assumptions for the remainder of the year remain unchanged.
