Alrosa to Reduce Rough Prices to Jump Start Sales, Report Claims

Alrosa may cut rough diamond prices by up to 25 percent in a move aimed at generating sales. The company saw its sales come to a near halt since November 2008.

If the report is accurate, this would be a sharp change in policy. Ousted Alrosa president Sergei Vybornov kept prices high since the onset of the economic crisis.

Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Sightholder and major Alrosa buyer, Kristall of Smolensk, said it may start purchasing diamonds from Alrosa if prices are indeed reduced. According to Maxim Shkadov, general director of Kristall, the company will start purchases from Alrosa in the near future.

Alrosa is reportedly in the process of creating diamond parcels of certain quality, and the discount to the pre-crisis prices could reach 25 percent, Shkadov told Vedomosti.

Rough diamond trading started picking up in the past couple of months after a depressed period that lasted through the firs quarter of the year. The rise in purchases - and premiums paid on the secondary market - was enough to cause major market supplier De Beers to raise prices on many of its goods.