Russia’s Gokhran intends to buy diamonds from ALROSA

To replenish Russia’s state fund ALROSA may supply RUB 4 billion ($110 million) worth of diamonds to Gokhran in 2012, investcafe.ru says. This transaction was cleared by the Supervisory Board of ALROSA at a meeting on May 18, according to the company’s report.
Diamonds can be supplied by ALROSA itself and its subsidiaries in ALROSA Group - ALROSA-Nyurba, Almazy Anabara and Severalmaz.
In 2011, Gokhran did not buy diamonds from ALROSA as the diamond miner did not offer its goods to the state fund, Interfax reported a while ago. Last year, the state repository acquired diamonds from other diamond producers outside of ALROSA Group (including OAO Nizhne-Lenskoye controlled by Yakutia and OAO Uralalmaz, which is part of Lev Leviev’s Ruiz Group).
In addition, based on what was produced in May ALROSA plans to sell rough and polished diamonds worth about $370 million. The company is expected to drive its total sales of rough and polished diamonds to over $ 1.988 billion in the first five months of 2012, which is up $160 million year-on-year. These figures were voiced at a corporate management meeting on May 21 chaired by Fyodor Andreev, President of ALROSA.
ALROSA is a regular supplier of diamonds to the stock held by Gokhran, says Pavel Emelyantsev, an analyst of Investkafe.
"This helps the company survive during periods of unfavorable market conditions. For example, after the 2008 crisis, when prices for diamond goods plummeted and demand for them in the international market almost deflated, it was Gokhran which helped the Russian diamond monopolist to stay afloat at the expense of government procurement. This news is quite positive for the company since it proves the existence of a long-term support strategy," the expert stressed.