(IDEX Online) - Alrosa sold $372m of rough and polished in February, a modest seven per cent increase on last year.By contrast De Beers, its biggest rival, saw comparative sales rise more than 50 per cent.Alrosa described the current balance between supply and demand as "comfortable" both for miners and rough buyers."The recovery in demand for diamond jewelry in key markets well continued in early 2021 thus providing a good support for rough diamonds sales," said Evgeny Agureev, deputy CEO of the Russian state-owned company."Midstream companies seek to replenish their stocks of rough, once they see an opportunity for that."Alrosa's sales for January were higher, at $430m.Sales of polished diamonds accounted for $9m and $12m of sales in January and February respectively.