Alrosa Sales Drop as Rough Rebound Slows

RAPAPORT… Alrosa’s diamond sales slipped to their lowest level this year as the market recovery calmed following months of robust growth.



Proceeds dropped 11% year on year to $298 million in September, the Russian miner reported Monday. Sales were also 3% down from August.



“Alrosa maintains its policy of satisfying only requests backed by…real demand to ensure sustainability of the whole diamond pipeline,” said Evgeny Agureev, deputy CEO of Alrosa. “Midstream inventories are kept at optimal volumes.”



Revenues from rough stood at $289 million — 12% behind last year. Polished sales grew 15% to $9 million.



The decline also reflected a comparison with strong sales last September, when the company saw a surge in demand following the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, an Alrosa spokesperson explained. At the time, the company had plenty of inventory to meet this demand, whereas “today we sell everything we produce immediately,” the spokesperson added.



Alrosa’s monthly sales rose strongly in late 2020 and the first half of 2021 as the global market recovered from the Covid-19 downturn. However, figures have steadily fallen since the summer as the market stabilized, while the company also had limited goods available to sell.



Diamond sales more than doubled to $3.27 billion in the first nine months of the year, up from $1.58 billion in the same period of 2020, reflecting the downturn and subsequent rebound. Rough sales jumped to $3.13 billion from $1.51 billion, while polished revenues leaped 96% to $140 million.



“Our clients are mostly optimistic about the upcoming festive season, and we expect the positive trend to continue into 2022,” Agureev commented.

Update, October 13, 2021: A further explanation for the sales result from an Alrosa spokesperson has been added to this article.




Image: Rough diamonds. (Alrosa)