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Alrosa Sees Upturn in Small-Stone Demand

Dec 10, 2018 9:33 AM   By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Alrosa noted an improvement in demand for lower-value rough in November, even as total diamond sales dropped.

Proceeds slid 18% year on year to $274 million for the month, the miner said Monday. However, sales value and volume were higher than in October, which “may be indicative of strengthening demand for low-cost, small-sized rough diamonds, which has been declining over the past few months,” Alrosa deputy CEO Yury Okoemov said.

“We still see a lot of potential for the increase in demand for rough diamonds from the Indian diamond-cutting sector, which is still having trouble with access to credit,” Okoemov added.

Rough-diamond sales fell 18% to $266.6 million for the month, according to Rapaport calculations, while polished revenue slipped 12% to $8.4 million.

Alrosa sells about 70% of its rough diamonds through its Alrosa Alliance contract sales, with auctions and private sales accounting for the rest. Proceeds from its large-stone auctions in November included $17 million from a sale in Israel, $10.3 million at an auction in Vladivostok, Russia, and $9.5 million from an event in Dubai. Meanwhile, a polished auction in Israel during the month grossed $2.9 million.

Total sales rose 3.7% to $4.2 billion for the first 11 months of the year, Alrosa said. Revenue from rough diamonds grew 4% to $4.1 billion, while polished sales climbed 3.4% to $90.4 million, according to Rapaport calculations.

Image: Diamond sorting. (Alrosa)
Tags: Alrosa, mining, Rapaport News, Rough Diamonds, rough sales
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