ALROSA’s diamond sales rise 9% on mo to $377 mln March

MOSCOW, Apr 10 (PRIME) -- Diamond sales by Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA rose 9% on the month to U.S. $377.1 million in March, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Raw diamond sales amounted to $369.2 million and cut diamonds sales raised $8 million.

In January–March, ALROSA sold $1.000 billion worth of diamonds, down 37.5% on the year. Raw diamond sales amounted to $987.9 million, cut diamond sales to $16.3 million.

“The market is gradually stabilizing following a soft demand from cutting and polishing companies in the second half of the last year. Demand for smaller-sized stones demonstrated recovery in the first quarter,” CEO Sergei Ivanov said as cited in the statement.

“The sector is also gradually restoring balance between the rough diamond inventories and rough diamond purchase volumes. We are cautiously optimistic about the second quarter, as, despite the persistent difficulties the Indian manufactures have with access to funding, in general, the end-demand for diamond jewelry demonstrates resilience.”

End