Petra Diamonds reported that revenue grew 19 percent year on year to $185.5 million for the first half that ended on December 31. The volume of diamond carats sold during the period rose 33 percent to 1,140,479 million. Petra’s production increased 31 percent to 1,635,716 million carats, mainly due to a spur in production at the company's Finsch mine and the continued ramp up of tailings production from its Cullinan mine. Profit was not provided in the mining company's trading statement.

The company noted that carat sales were lower than carats produced due to the seasonal timing of its tenders. The company held three rough tenders during the first half, with four tenders scheduled to take place in the second half. ‎

"Petra has delivered a strong first half of the 2014 financial year, with production firmly on track to meet our original full year guidance of 3 million carats," said Johan Dippenaar, Petra's CEO. "The rough diamond market has also strengthened over recent months and we expect this firmer market to continue into the second half, when the larger part of our diamond sales for the year take place."

Production at Finsch soared 52 percent to 974,431 carats during the second quarter and rough sales increased 26 percent to $83.2 million from 863,319 carats of goods. The ‎average price per carat for Finsch production fell 21 percent to $96. ‎ The company explained that the decline in price of Finsch goods is due to the plant cut-off change, which resulted in the production of small, high-quality stones.

Production at Cullinan reached 461,338 carats with sales of $61.3 million achieving an ‎average price of $150 per carat. Earlier this week, Petra recovered a 29.60-carat vivid blue diamond at Cullinan. The company expects sale proceeds from the stone to strongly impact revenue during the second half.

Petra also owns the Williamson mine in Tanzania, and the Koffiefontein and Kimberley ‎underground mines in South Africa. Production at Koffiefontein and Kimberley was negatively impacted by industrial action during the period.

On December 31, Petra's diamond inventory was valued at $49.1 million. The company ended the period with $27.5 million cash on hand.