ALROSA Group’s sales of rough and polished diamonds for August 2019 amounted to US$ 181.8 million, the Company announced yesterday.

Of this, rough diamond sales by value touched US$ 180.2 million; polished diamond sales amounted to US$ 1.5 million.

For the eight months from January to August 2019, ALROSA’s total rough and polished diamond sales reached US$ 2,163.6 million. During this eight-month period, rough diamonds sales were US$ 2,129 million; while polished diamonds stood at US$ 34.6 million.

“The diamond market is still experiencing headwinds from both macroeconomic and industry specific factors, which have an adverse impact on the midstream,” commented Evgeny Agureev, Director of the United Selling Organization ALROSA, and Member of the Executive Committee.  “There is also a seasonal slowdown weighing on the summer sales. Meanwhile, for the first time since 2010, August sales were higher than in July – mainly due to the replenishment of stock by diamond cutters and polishers. Besides, a regular trade session in August started later than usual, so that some sales recognition were moved to September. It is still too early to come to firm conclusions based upon it. However, we are still expecting that after a significant decrease in rough diamond supply by major diamond producers since the beginning of the year, the excess stock in the system is decreasing. This will help to restore supply and demand balance which should not take too long.”