Russian diamond miner ALROSA sold $294.9 million worth of rough and polished diamonds in the typically slow month of August, representing a 14% rise year-over-year. The miner sold $283.2 million worth of rough diamonds during the month, an 11% increase over the same period in 2017. Meanwhile, polished-diamond sales increased 516% y-o-y and 121% over July, earning $11.7 million, as the group hosted several sales. ALROSA’s total diamond sales from January-August 2018 have increased by 9% y-o-y to $3.32 billion, including rough diamond sales of $3.26 billion compared to $2.98 billion through the first eight months of 2017, and polished diamond sales of $67 million, up from $64.2 million.

“Despite traditional August market slowdown, sales of both rough and polished diamonds were much higher than a year before,” says ALROSA Deputy CEO for Sales Yury Okoemov. “Positive trends in diamond jewelry sales observed since the beginning of the year contribute to stable demand for almost the entire range of our products, especially for high-price rough diamonds. Basically, we maintain moderately positive outlook for the rough and polished diamond market growth in 2018. In the medium term, rough diamond sales will be supported by the growing demand for diamond jewelry in the main jewelry consuming countries – the US, China and India.”

（11/09/2018, Source: Diamond Loupe）