Friday, July 24, 2009

Mining: South Africa's diamond industry hard hit by economic crisis

Xinhua - The diamond industry has been severely hit by the difficult global economic environment, the world's largest diamond producer De Beers said on Friday.

The company, 45 percent owned by Anglo American, posted a 99 percent fall in first-half net profit and said rough diamond sales declined 57 percent to 1.4 billion U.S. dollars.

The company said net profit in the first six months of the year tumbled to three million dollars from 316 million dollars in the same period last year.

Output was cut due to weak demand in the first half year and production declined 73 percent to 6.6 million carats.

Overall costs in the group were slashed by over 50 percent and its workforce reduced by 23 percent.
Published by Mike Hitchen,
Putting principles before profits