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London--After what CEO Philippe Mellier termed an “exceptional year,” De Beers today announced that overall sales for the year ended Dec. 31 increased 26 percent to $7.4 billion.

Sales of rough diamonds by the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) increased 27 percent to $6.5 billion. Earnings rose 21 percent to $1.7 billion from $1.4 billion the previous year.

Diamond production for the year totaled 31.3 million carats down from 33 million carats in 2010. Despite this, De Beers produced stellar results due to a rough diamond price increase of 29 percent over the course of the year.

The company's free cash flow for the year, at $734 million, was well below the previous year’s $943 million. However De Beers reduced its third party debt to $1.3 billion from $1.8 billion.

This article was first published on IDEX Online on Feb. 10.