Report: ALROSA halts polishing until end of summer on low demand

MOSCOW, Apr 29 (PRIME) -- Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA has suspended operations of its diamond polishing plants until the end of summer due to falling demand, CEO Sergei Ivanov said in an interview to RCB television channel broadcast on Wednesday.

“Regarding the polishing division, we’ve suspended almost the entire production, including the plant in Barnaul and Smolensk-based Kristall, we had to switch almost 1,000 people into downtime that is paid for in accordance with legislation until the end of this year’s summer,” he said.

“We did this because we will be unable to sell the polished diamonds we can produce today as demonstrates the experience of our Indian colleagues and companies from other countries. The entire polishing industry was suspended in India, the lockdown was prolonged until the end of May. It is possible that it would be prolonged in many countries.”

He also did not rule out adjusting the 2020 production plan of 34.2 million carats as the company has a stock of diamonds of 21.1 million carats as of the end of March.

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