Alrosa announced, Thursday, January the 29th, that production in its fourth quarter increased 8 percent over the previous quarter, to reach 10.56 million carats. In 2014, diamond production totaled 36.21 million carats, exceeding expectations by 210,000 carats.
The company said the production increase was driven by the completion of planned maintenance at the plants that process ore from the International, Aikhal and Mir underground mines.
In the fourth quarter, the company sold 10.79 million carats of diamonds, including 6.85 million carats of gem-quality diamonds at an average price of $161 per carat (p/c) and 3.94 million carats of industrial diamonds at an average price of $11 per carat.
Alrosa sold 39.57 million carats of diamonds, including 27.74 million carats of gem-quality diamonds at an average price of $171 p/c, and 11.83 million carats of industrial diamonds at an average price of $12 p/c during the year.
Revenue from diamond sales in 2014 reached $5.05 billion, including $4.90 billion from rough diamond sales.
The company said that its rough diamond prices have gone up by around 7 percent since the start of the year.
Looking ahead, diamond production for 2015 is planned to be 38 million carats, with diamond reaching 40 million carats, including the sale of inventories of around 2 million carats.
Alrosa said it expects to see moderate growth of the diamond market in 2015 driven by positive macroeconomic indicators dynamic in major diamond jewelry consuming countries.
