(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's rough and polished sales showed some signs of recovery in May, after a disastrous April.
They were, however, a mere fraction of its pre-COVID-19 figures.
The Russian state-owned miner sold a total of $40.1m worth of diamonds in May, compared with $15.6m in April, which felt the full force of lockdown.
By comparison, total sales in January, before the pandemic hit, were $405m.
Alrosa, the world's biggest producer of diamonds by volume, said it remained committed to its price-over-volume strategy in the hope that it would help reduce the worldwide glut of rough and polished diamond stock, much of it in India.
Pic of rough diamonds courtesy Alrosa
"We believe that our approach to avoid putting pressure on the market will accelerate recovery of the market of supply and demand balance," said deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev in a statement today.
"According to our estimates, buying activity at the mid-stream will resume in the middle of the third quarter."
Earlier this week, Alrosa reported an 87 per cent plunge in profits, blaming revaluation of its foreign currency debt and COVID-19.
It has also revised down its 2020 production forecast from 34.2m carats to 28-31m carats and allowed long-term clients to defer purchases.