Alrosa, (MCX:ALRS) the world's top diamond producer by output, reported Thursday that total sales of rough and polished diamonds increased to $345.6 million, up 23% compared to January 2019 (up $64.1 million).
Rough diamonds sales in February increased to $340.6 million, compared to $278.2 million in January 2019, while polished diamond sales grew to $5 million, compared to $3.4 million a month ago.
"We see Indian mid-streamers' activity gradually recover, despite some challenges hampering access to bank financing for the industry in this country," Sergey Ivanov, Alrosa CEO said in a statement. "This sentiment is particularly noticeable for small and medium-sized rough diamonds. The company has moderately optimistic expectations of further smooth growth in demand and market activity."
Alrosa's total rough and polished diamond sales in January-February 2019 amounted to $627 million. The value of rough diamonds sold was $618.8 million for two months, and polished diamonds sales reached $8.3 million.