Alrosa Production +8% in H1, Revenues $1.9B (Updated)

(IDEX Online News) – Russian diamond miner Alrosa mined 19 million carats in the first half of 2011 and sold 19.1 million carats, making it the largest diamond producer by volume.

Diamond production increased by 8% compared to the first half of 2010.

Alrosa's revenues, which usually include rough and polished diamonds, totaled 52.444 billion rubles ($1.91 billion), according to figures included in an investors results released Wednesday.

The average price per carat increased by 41% to $113 year-over-year, Alrosa reported. However, sales of 19.1 million carats at an average of $113 p/c are $2.158 billion, more than total revenues for the period. The reported average price likely reflects the achieved price in June and not an average for the six-month period.

On Tuesday, De Beers reported that it mined 15.5 million carats in the first half of 2011, less than Alrosa's production, however De Beers' rough diamond sales totaled $3.5 billion.

Alrosa posted a net income of 16.4 billion rubles ($597.4 million) in the six months ending June 30.