Indian Weakness Dents Alrosa Sales

RAPAPORT... Alrosa's sales dropped 28% year on year to $242.8 million inOctober amid weaker demand for smaller rough stones and a slowdown in theIndian market. Indian demand fell due to the depreciation of the rupee andtighter bank credit for manufacturers, the miner explained. "A number of minorbankruptcies" in India had a negative impact on the sector, while the period was also seasonally weak due to the Diwali festival, the company said. Rough-diamond sales fell 28% to $233.9 million for themonth, according to Rapaport calculations, while polished revenue slid 18% to$8.9 million. The market is likely to improve from December onward, withfull-year sales value set to exceed last year's, Alrosa said. Sales rose 6% to$3.9 billion in the first 10 months of the year, with revenue from rough stonesup 5% to $3.8 billion for the period, while polished-diamond sales climbed 5%to $83 million. Image: Rough diamonds. (Alrosa)