Gokhran to hold another diamond auction on September 7, 2021

Gokhran, Russia's state repository of valuables, announced another auction, the sixth this year, for the sale of rough diamonds to be held on September 7, 2021, with 768,600 carats worth about $19 million to be put on the block, INTERFAX reported.
At its fifth auction, Gokhran sold 1.018 million carats of diamonds netting $139.2 million (22% more than the starting price). About 70% of the rough put up for auction were bought by ALROSA acting at the request of its long-term customers.
The market is experiencing an acute shortage of rough diamonds required by manufacturers to fulfill the growing number of orders, while inventories in all segments of the system are at a minimum, the company explained.
Initially, Gokhran focused this year on sales within a budget limit of about $70 million (this amount includes potential sales of precious metals and diamonds, as well as other precious stones). But in July, Gokhran mentioned the possibility of selling a larger amount of previously accumulated diamonds to benefit from the recovery of global diamond demand after the pandemic.
Before that, Gokhran sold 1.202 million carats of diamonds garnering $67 million after four auctions.
According to VTB Capital, Gokhran’s large sales reaching $500 million or more may become an obstacle to further growth in diamond prices and create a risk of accumulated inventories for ALROSA. For more than 13 years, Gokhran has accumulated diamond stocks worth about $1.1 billion, which is equivalent to almost 60% of the total market deficit in 2021-2022.

Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished