|
|
Alrosa to Buy from Gokhran Again
Feb 10, 2022 11:05 AM
By Rapaport News
|
|
|
RAPAPORT... Alrosa plans to make further acquisitions of rough from the Russian state depository later this month as it seeks ways of meeting demand following drops in production.
“Like in the second half of 2021, Alrosa will participate in auctions hosted by Gokhran to purchase rough diamonds on behalf of its trusted clients,” a spokesperson for the miner said Thursday. This will compensate for the “global market shortage amid strong demand and limited primary supply,” the company added.
Gokhran, a unit of Russia’s Ministry of Finance, stores inventories of diamonds, other gemstones and precious metals. It holds periodic sales, with the next ones slated for February 24 and 25. One will feature 1.3 million carats valued at $41.4 million, while the other will offer 344,678 carats with a combined price of $22.7 million, according to lists on the depository’s website.
Alrosa has struggled to fulfill customers’ strong appetite for rough in recent months because of operational issues at mines and a paucity of inventories. On Wednesday, the company said it would let long-term customers bring their purchase allocations forward, enabling them to access supply sooner than their contracts called for. It would not say how much supply could be advanced and for how many months.
The miner will also reintroduce tenders for contract clients between trading sessions — a practice it discontinued in early 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent efforts to speed up the production cycle will help the company offer these extra buying options, the spokesperson explained.
The decisions come during a busy period for the rough market as cutters restock after the buoyant holiday season, noted Alrosa deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev.
“We believe that [the rescheduling of allocations], together with the Gokhran auction slated for late February 2022, will speed up progress in addressing [the] current market deficit,” Agureev added.
Alrosa previously bought almost $100 million in rough from Gokhran in July 2021 to address a shortage of goods. Since then, shortfalls have widened again, with the miner’s January sales slipping 24% year on year despite rampant demand.
Image: Rough diamonds. (Alrosa)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tags:
Alrosa, Evgeny Agureev, Gokhran, mining, Ministry of Finance, Rapaport News, rough, Rough Diamonds, rough market, rough sales, Russia
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|