The fear that gripped the global diamond market this year is beginning to ease as shipments from sanctioned Russian miner Alrosa return to pre-war levels in Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, “Alrosa” represents roughly one-third of the world’s rough diamond supplies, at a time when the sector, valued at $80 billion per year, has been in a state of chaos and confusion since the war in late July, and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia and its companies; this has forced cutting, polishing, and trading companies to look for ways to continue buying diamonds from Russia, while banks are unable or unwilling to carry out transactions.
The unexpected lack of diamond supply in recent months has resulted in a substantial surge in diamond prices, particularly for smaller and less expensive stones specialising in “Alrosa.”
According to knowledgeable sources, after months of stagnation due to US sanctions, Alrosa has begun selling diamonds for more than $250 million per month, which is between $50 and $100 million less per month than its normal sales before to the Ukraine war.
And the Russian company’s sales grew active when a number of Indian banks got more comfortable performing financial transactions in currencies other than the US dollar with Russian organisations and banks.
The majority of Russian raw diamond exports go to India, which has the highest number of diamond cutting and polishing operations in the world. Alrosa now offers diamonds in return for Russian rubles to buyers in India and Europe.
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