Alrosa Sales Continue to Slide in August

RAPAPORT... Alrosa's sales fell 38% year on year to $181.8 million in August, as weakness in the market persisted. However, the result was an improvement on last month's$170.5 million, the miner's weakest figure since it began releasing data in 2016. It's also the firsttime since 2010 that August proceeds were higher than in July, Evgeny Agureev,director of Alrosa's United Selling Organization, noted Tuesday. Cutters and polishers began replenishing their stocks, supporting Alrosa's sales during the month, he said. "The diamond market is still experiencing headwinds fromboth macroeconomic and industry-specific factors, which have an adverse impacton the midstream," Agureev explained. "There is also a seasonal slowdownweighing on the summer sales." Rough-diamond sales decreased 36% to $180.2million for the month, while polished revenue plunged 87% to $1.5 million. Alrosa's sales fell 35% to $2.16 billion in the first eightmonths of the year. Revenue from rough stones dropped 35% to $2.13 billion forthe period, while polished-diamond sales slid 48% to $34.6 million. However, the miner maintained a positive outlook for the roughsector for the remainder of the year, as the oversupply in the market is easing.  "We are still expecting that after a significant decrease inrough-diamond supply by major diamond producers since the beginning of theyear, the excess stock in the system is decreasing," Agureev added. "This willhelp to restore supply and demand balance, which should not take too long." Image: Polished diamonds. (Alrosa)