Alrosa has published its diamond production and diamonds sales performance for the third quarter of the year.
Alrosa reported that production grew 15% year-on-year to 12.1 million carats in Q3. In the first nine months of the year, production was up 12% year-on-year to 9 million carats. However, Q3 diamond sales decreased by 5% year-on-year to 6.4 million carats due to “reduction in stocking by cutters and retailers”. In the first nine months of the year, sales shrank by 13% year-on-year to 25.3 million carats; this was “mainly driven by lower sales of gem-quality diamonds”, which suffered a 14% drop year-on-year.
Alrosa also reported that in Q3 2019, average realised prices for gem-quality diamonds went down 32% year-on-year. The diamond price index came lower by 7.5% year-to-date. Sales in the third quarter went down 37% year-on-year to $601 million. In the first nine months of the year, sales were down 34% to $2.386 billion.
Alrosa added that “diamond jewellery demand is being affected by increased macroeconomic uncertainty weighing negativity on consumer confidence” as, since the beginning of 2019, “diamond jewellery producers and cutters have been actively reducing their polished and rough diamonds stocks”.
