Petra Diamonds posts sparkling revenue as demand and price surge
Revenue was up 33 per cent to $140.6m (£107.9m) for Petra Diamonds, as the price of diamonds spike by over 30 per cent from 2021.
Quarterly production was up 18 per cent to 830,456 carats, whilst the quarter scored some big hitters for the firm. Indeed Petra sold a 157.88ct Type IIa white stone from Cullinan for whopping $5.5m.
Notwithstanding the revenue increase, carats sold were down 31 per cent and 16 per cent in the quarter and year to date respectively. However, no impact is foreseen on expected sales volumes for the full year with further tenders in April and June 2022.
The current diamond inventory is valued at $98.1m, compared to $79.6m at the end of last year.
The company expressed a confidence in the structural changes in the diamond market supply and demand, which continue to underpin prices.
“The much stronger diamond market has been evident since mid-2021 with Q3 pricing for rough driven by strong sales of polished and increased demand from the manufacturing centres, bolstered by record sales during the festive season”, it said in the update.
” We believe this market dynamic reflects the structural change in underlying supply and demand, which we expect to continue to be supportive. However, the effects of the current conflict in Ukraine have led to some uncertainty as to the impact on the global economy, which we expect will result in some softening in prices from the highs seen in Q3 FY 2022″, the Petra update added.
The company did state that the economic uncertainty arising from the war in Ukraine did cause some initial anxiety, but was monitoring the impact in Ukraine and sanctions on Russian companies.