ALROSA’s total sales of rough and polished diamonds for February 2019 amounted to US$ 345.6 million, marking an increase of 23% or US$ 64.1 million over January 2019 sales amounting to US$ 281.6 million. 

However, compared to sales in the same period of the previous year (February 2018) of US$ 541.9 million, the figure for the period under review was lower by a substantial 36.22%.

The same trend is to be found in the breakdown of the other sales figures if compared y-o-y, as well. 

Rough diamonds sales in February this year increased by 22% as compared to January 2019 to touch US$ 340.6 million, as against sales worth US$ 278.2 million achieved in the previous month. Polished diamond sales in February 2019 shot up by 46% reaching a total of US$ 5 million, as compared to sales of US$ 3.4 million achieved in January 2019.  

However, in February 2018, rough diamond sales had amounted to US$ 532.8 million and polished diamond sales had stood at US$ 9.1 million.

ALROSA’s total rough and polished diamond sales for the two months January-February 2019 amounted to US$ 627 million. The value of rough diamonds sold was US$ 618.8 mn for the two months, and that of polished diamonds amounted to US$ 8.3 million.

Again, total sales for the January-February 2018 period were considerably higher at US$ 1.046 billion: with rough diamond sales amounting US$ 1.032 billion; and polished diamond sales touching US$ 14.6 million in that period.   

Clearly, 2019 sales are still way below par compared to 2018.  

Sergey Ivanov, ALROSA CEO commented: “We see Indian mid-streamers activity gradually recover, despite some challenges hampering access to bank financing for the industry in this country. This sentiment is particularly noticeable for small- and medium-sized rough diamonds. The company has moderately optimistic expectations of further smooth growth in demand and market activity.”