(IDEX Online) - Alrosa reported preliminary rough and polished sales of $401m in April, as demand remained "sustainably robust".By comparison, last April saw sales slow to a virtual standstill - $15.6m - as Covid caused a global shutdown.Alrosa's monthly sales from January to April 2021 have averaged $390m.Last month the Russian state-owned miner said it would give shareholders their biggest-ever half-year dividend - a $942m payout for H2 2020. That's an increase of 47 per cent on the full-year payout for 2019.Evgeny Agureev, deputy CEO, commenting on last month's sales, said: "In April, demand for diamond jewelry in the key markets continued to remain sustainably robust."Rough diamonds' stocks at the mid-stream remain modest, while supply of the rough diamonds gradually move to a deficit state as global diamond production capacities structurally reduced. "Our April sales were well supported by the successful results delivered by auctions of high-quality large rough, as well as by strong sales of polished diamonds."