Column: Demand weakness helps cushion tin from supply problems
Tin demand last year was weaker than expected and is on course for only a modest recovery in 2024, according to the International Tin Association.
Alrosa (MCX:ALRS), the world’s top diamond producer by output in carats, injected some fresh good news into the gems market Thursday by posting a fourfold increase in total profit to $2.31 billion (133.5 billion roubles) for 2016.
The Russian miner said 2016 was a year of active recovery in the diamond market following the decline of 2015.
The miner, majority-owned by the Russian government and the far eastern province of Yakutia where most of its operations are based, said profit attributable to shareholders totalled $2.25 billion (131.39bn roubles) last year, versus $530K (30.67 million roubles) in 2015, thanks to a global recovery in diamond prices.
“2016 was a year of active recovery in the diamond market following the decline of 2015,” Alrosa’s chief financial officer Igor Kulichik said in the statement. “The company managed to deliver record-high financial performance and generate net cash flow sufficient to repay short-term and medium-term liabilities and pay out dividends to shareholders,”
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, however, fell 30% in the fourth quarter, becoming the second-worst quarter in the Alrosa’s history due mostly to a weakened demand for gems.
The diamond miner, which is planning to increase production by 6% to 39.2 million carats this year, appointed last week Sergei Ivanov, the son of a close advisor to Russian president Vladimir Putin, as its new president.
Comments
Mladen
Check your numbers again. 530K (000) x 4 does not equal billions (000 000 000) but millions (000 000).