A Slight Rise in Russia’s H1 Diamond Production

Russia’s diamond production rose 4.3 percent to 18.349 million carats in the first half of 2009, compared to the fist six months of 2008, the Russian Finance Ministry reported. The value of production stood at $1.2 billion, a 0.6 percent year-over-year increase.

The country’s rough diamond production was totaled $1.193 billion in the first half of 2008 and $1.315 billion in the second half of the year.

While year-over-year production increased, Russia reduced diamond production by 5 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to the 19.331 million carats mined in the second half of 2008.

Alrosa, which accounts for about 97 percent of Russia’s diamond production, maintained its mining operations while leading diamond miner De Beers shut down most of its operations for long weeks in late 2008 and early 2009 before returning to production in the second quarter.

Alrosa, on the other hand, choose to stock pile its goods, selling some of its production to the Russian repository Gokhran. In June it resumed sales to the market, however those are still limited in scope.