Russia’s diamond producer Alrosa has noted an upward trend in rough diamond sales in the second half of Q3 2019, which the company believes creates the basis for market recovery in the future, Prime news agency reported.
“The second half of Q3 2019 saw an upward trend in rough diamond sales after a turning point in destocking, thus creating a basis for the market recovery in the future,” Alrosa said in a statement on Thursday.
Alrosa boosted production by 12% in nine months of 2019 year-on-year to 29.7 million carats, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Q3 diamond production seasonally added 24% quarter-on-quarter and 15% year-on-year to 12.1 mln carats due to the launch of production at new deposits and expansion of the existing ones.
Diamond inventories as at the end of Q3 2019 increased by 36% quarter-on-quarter and by 40% year-on-year to 21.7 mln carats “due to both seasonal production growth at alluvial deposits and weaker sales,” Alrosa said.
The company, which is among the biggest diamond manufacturers in the world, also said this week that Evgeny Agureev, who has served as a director of Alrosa’s United Selling Organization (USO) since 2017, was named the Russian diamond miner’s deputy chief executive officer.
Agureev will continue to lead the USO and oversee the sales unit. He has been a member of the Alrosa executive committee since 2017. In his new position, the executive will continue to develop sales, improve their efficiency and transparency, and strengthen ties with long-term clients, Alrosa said.
