ALROSA’s  total diamond sales  for September 2018 amounted to US$ 338.7 million, marking an increase of 9% over the same period of the previous year, the miner announced yesterday.

The Company’s rough diamond sales reached  US$ 331.6 million, an increase of over 8.4% as compared to sales worth US$ 305.8 million achieved in September 2017.

Polished diamond sales for September amounted to US$ 7.1 million as compared to US$ 3.9 million reported for the same period of last year.

ALROSA’s total diamond sales for the nine months from January-September 2018 grew 9% y-o-y to touch US$ 3.662 billion. In this period, rough diamond sales amounted to US$ 3.588 billion; and polished diamonds sales stood at US$ 74.1 million.

ALROSA Deputy CEO Yury Okoemov commented: “September sales growth against last year’s numbers is due, partially, to the low base effect of the last year, as sales of +10.8 and +2 carat rough diamonds increased. At the same time, there is a further slowdown in buying activity of  inexpensive stones, traditional for the holiday season during Diwali celebrations in India.”