Alrosa Blames "Rock Bottom" Inventories as Sales Slump
January 13, 22
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's sales of rough and polished diamonds slumped to a $254m in December, as it battled "rock bottom" inventories.
The Russian miner is still struggling to meet unexpectedly high demand after the easing of Covid restrictions.
Its total sales for December - $241m of rough and $12m of polished - were the lowest of the 2021 and down 51 per cent year-on-year. The monthly average for the year was $347m.
"Amid strong demand, December sales dynamics result from the high base effect of December 2020, when sales primarily came from our stocks, as well as from the trading session shift towards the end of the month with sales partly moving to January 2022," said Evgeny Agureev, deputy CEO. "To reiterate, our inventories remain at rock bottom since mid-2021."
However, he said annual sales were up 50 per cent on 2020 and 21 per cent on pre-Covid 2019.
"We are generally positive about future demand for rough diamonds, given low stocks in the diamond pipeline and continued high demand from jewellery consumers."