ALROSA's statement regarding its Q4 and 12M 2020 operating results released on Thursday said that the company’s diamond production in Q4 2020 reached 7.1 million carats (8.8 million carats in 2019), while sales went up to 17 million carats compared with the previous quarter (8.2 million carats in 2019). For 12 months of 2020, diamond production amounted to 30 million carats (38.5 million carats in 2019), sales - 32.1 million carats (33.4 million carats in 2019).The average realised price of gem-quality diamonds in Q4 was $91/carat ($148/carat in 2019) due to a larger share of small-size diamonds in the sales mix driven by deferred demand for this category. For 12 months, the price stood at $109/carat ($133/carat in 2019) due to changes in the sales mix as well as the lower average price index (down 10%).
Proceeds from rough and polished diamond sales in Q4 came in at $1,222 million ($ 916 million in 2019), including $1,144 m ($ 888 million in 2019) in revenue from rough diamond sales and $78 million ($ 28 million in 2019 year) in revenue from polished diamond sales. 12M total sales amounted to $2,802 million ($ 3,338 million in 2019), including $2,652 million ($ 3,273 million in 2019) in diamond sales.
The statement said that ALROSA was implementing a “price-over-volume” strategy, which helped stabilise rough diamond prices during the crisis. According to the company, by the end of the year demand for rough diamonds was strong and stable, driven by a balanced sales policy of major diamond producers seeking to meet real demand, along with a seasonal uptick in demand and robust performance across all segments of the diamond market.
