Russian mining giant Alrosa expects a decrease in diamond production in 2018 “by several percent” compared to 2017, Rough & Polished reports. However, the company expects to keep sales volume “at about the same level” as 2017. The piece quoted the company’s president Sergei Ivanov, who spoke to journalists last week.
Ivanov said that Alrosa “expects to sell more than 40 million carats of diamonds by the end of 2017”. He added that Alrosa expects “good sales in November, and even more so in December”. He also said: “We believe that this year’s sales will be slightly higher than planned (39 million carats) .We expect to sell slightly more this year – 40 million carats”.
As for production in 2018, Ivanov commented that the miner expects to produce less “because of the impact of the accident (at the Mir mine) […]”. Regarding sales, Ivanov said that the company has good rough stocks, adding: “We believe that next year sales will be stable compared to this year’s sales. It is difficult to announce an exact volume of diamond stocks, but we think that next year we will sell six to seven percent more than we will produce”.
