Russian diamond miner ALROSA announced it had sold rough diamonds worth $467.6 million and polished worth $4.5 million for an aggregate $472.1 million in diamond sales in May this year. The figures are 33 percent above the aggregate sales figures for May 2016.
Aggregate sales for the first five months of this year, however, amounted to $2.13 billion ($2.09 billion in rough and $44.3 million in polished) — 5 percent below the sales over the corresponding period last year.
Average sales prices over the period declined 5 percent this year and commenting on it, ALROSA Vice President Yury Okoemov observed that the company had sold a substantial amount of high-priced rough from its stockpile in early 2016. This year, small, inexpensive diamonds constituted a higher proportion of all the goods sold. Much of these diamonds were sold as a result of a revival in demand from India.
https://www.gemkonnect.com/news/alrosa-may-sales-33-472m-5-month-total-falls-5-213b