ALROSA’s March trading session made the Company’s ongoing support for its long term clients amply evident, amidst what it dubbed as “global market uncertainty”.

 “Since the beginning of this year, ALROSA has been taking consistent steps to improve trading flexibility,” the Company said in a statement. “By the start of its trading session in March, the mandatory amount of rough diamonds required to be bought had been lowered from 55% to 50%. In a stable market environment, for comparison, ALROSA usually sets this at 80% level, as was the case in 2018. Until mid-2019, (when) it was 70%.”

What is more, considering the current market scenario in light of the latest market developments with the advent of COVID-19, the Company has decided that, starting this week, it will allow customers to take 40% of the initially contracted volume and carry the remaining part over to the end of May 2020.

“Obviously, amid such market uncertainty, it wouldn’t be right to keep our customers tied to their original contracts,” said Deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev. “We hope that ALROSA’s flexible sales policy and support measures will help market participants adapt to the new conditions, and pass through them successfully.”

ALROSA recalled that at the beginning of the year, the Eximbank of Russia had issued its first loan for a foreign customer to buy rough diamonds from the Company.  “Many other companies also showed interest in this type of financing,”  ALROSA noted.

The Company concluded by saying: “Historically, ALROSA has been finding ways to prop up the rough and polished diamond industry. In mid-2019, for example, it decided to pursue the “price over volume” strategy and cut its rough diamond sales volumes greatly to address the overstocking issue.”