ALROSA’s diamond sales plummet 44% to $281.5 mln in January

MOSCOW, Feb 12 (PRIME) -- Sales of rough and polished diamonds of Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA plummeted by 44% on the year to U.S. $281.5 million in January due to low market activity, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Sales of rough diamonds reached $278.2 million, and sales of polished diamonds amounted to $3.4 million.

“In January, market activity was lower than usual. After active restocking at the midstream in December 2018 (our December sales were up 20% on the quarter and up 46% on the year), our January sales came lower. At the same time combined sales in December 2018 and January 2019 reached three years average number of $601.9 million,” the company said quoting Deputy CEO Yury Okoyomov.

Diamond sales are always cyclical, so the January contraction is an expected correction after peak sales in previous periods, Okoyomov said as cited by the company.

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