Alrosa’s revenue down in Q3 as sales almost halved

Alrosa’s Udachny mine began operations in 2014 and it is expected to become Russia’s largest diamond mine and one of the world’s biggest. (Image courtesy of Alrosa)

Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s top diamond producer by output in carats, reported Wednesday a 29% drop in revenue as sales for the quarter were down 46% at 4.9 million carats, compared with the 9 million carats it sold in the second quarter of the year.

The loss was also an effect of the depreciation of the Russian ruble against the U.S. dollar and the revaluation of dollar-denominated loans and borrowings, the company said.

Revenue for the first nine months of the year, however, increased by 17% $2.65 billion, despite a 20% decline compared to the same period last year.

Diamond production for the first nine months of 2015 was 29.6 million carats, up 16% from the previous year.

Prices for rough diamonds have declined about 15% this year as China’s economic slowdown cut demand for luxury goods. Alrosa mined about 11.6 million carats in the three months through September, but sold only 4.9 million carats in the period, it said last month.

Alrosa expects its annual production to remain at 38 million carats.