Alrosa, Russia’s largest diamond producer, ended some long-term deals with customers as sales in March collapsed to half the level of a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We would like to thank those of our customers who stick to our long-term contracts though with several companies we had to terminate such contracts and switch to spot sales,” Deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev said in a statement.Sales dropped to $153-million last month from $346-million in February and $377-million in March of 2019, according to Alrosa’s statement. Total sales in the first quarter were $904-million.
Alrosa reported March sales earlier than its main competitor — De Beers, the world’s largest diamond company — so the results signal how deep the crisis is across the industry, said Kirill Chuyko, head of research at BCS Global Markets. “Since De Beers allowed customers to delay purchases in March, its results might be even weaker.”