High-Value Rough Demand Boosts Alrosa Sales

RAPAPORT... Alrosa's sales climbed 14% to $294.9 million in August dueto strong demand for higher-value rough diamonds, the miner reported. "Despite [the] traditional August market slowdown, sales of bothrough and polished diamonds were much higher than a year before," Yury Okoemov,Alrosa's deputy CEO for sales, said Monday. "Positive trends in diamond-jewelrysales observed since the beginning of the year [are contributing] to stable demand foralmost the entire range of our products, especially for high-price roughdiamonds." Rough-diamond sales increased 11% year on year to $283.2million for the month, while polished revenue rose to $11.7 million from $1.9million a year ago. The miner maintains a "moderately positive outlook" for bothrough and polished for the rest of the year, it said. Growing demand fordiamond jewelry in the main markets, including the US, China and India,supports that position, Okoemov added. Alrosa's sales grew 9% to $3.32 billion in the first eightmonths of the year. Revenue from rough stones increased 9% to $3.26 billion forthe period, while polished-diamond sales climbed 4% to $67 million. Image: Rough diamonds pas through a sorting machine at the Mirny division. Credit: Alrosa