Russian diamond miner Alrosa has said that it will be introducing pilot programmes for the marketing of ‘Russian-mined’ branded diamonds in some key markets across the world this year. A statement on the company website reports this announcement by Alrosa head Andrey Zharkov.

The company said that this would be the first time that it was doing any form of direct marketing on its own.

Stressing the importance of increased efforts to boost consumer demand for diamonds, Zharkov said that Alrosa’s own advertising efforts would be in addition to its participation in the generic diamond promotions undertaken by the Diamond Producers Association of which Alrosa is a member.

He added that one of the strategic goals of the industry was to increase demand at the consumer level.

Zharkov also said that this was part of the miner’s efforts to strengthen its independent brand both at the consumer level and within the trade.