Alrosa sold $377.1 million of rough and polished diamonds in March. Rough diamond sales grew to $369.2 million, against $340.6 million in February 2019, with polished diamond sales increasing to $8 million, against $5 million a month earlier.
Sales in the first quarter of the year amounted to $1,004 million - $987.9 million of rough and $16.3 million of polished goods.
"The market is gradually stabilizing following a soft demand from cutting and polishing companies in the second half of the last year. Demand for smaller-sized stones demonstrated recovery in the first quarter. The sector is also gradually restoring the balance between the rough diamond inventories and rough diamond purchase volumes. We are cautiously optimistic about the second quarter, as, despite the persistent difficulties the Indian manufacturers have with access to funding, in general, the end-demand for diamond jewelry demonstrates resilience," Alrosa's CEO, Sergey Ivanov, commented.