The Russian diamond mining firm confirmed an ongoing slowdown in global diamond markets in the second calendar quarter.
Alrosa generated $2.1 billion from the sale of 18 million carats of rough diamonds in the first half of this year, a 22 percent drop from last year.
By contrast, the miner sold 21.1 million carats of diamonds that brought in $2.7 billion in the first six months of 2014.
Alrosa ’s rough prices slipped by 3 percent during the second quarter and by 6 percent in the first half of the year.
It sold 5.4 million carats of gem-quality diamonds at an average price per carat of $176 in the second quarter, and 3.4 million carats of industrial diamonds at an average price per carat of $11.
Output in the second quarter of this year soared 20 percent on the year to 9.6 million carats, while production in the first half rose by 13 percent to 18 million carats.
In other highlights for the six-month period, the average grade achieved improved to 1.11 carats per tonne from 1.02 carats per tonne a year earlier; the company processed extra stockpiles of higher grade ore from the open pit Udachnaya pipe; production at the Mir underground mine almost doubled due to measures to reduce water inflow; and the first 481,000 carats were recovered from the Botuobinskaya pipe following its launch in March 2015.
