Russian Gokhran sells 960 mln rubles in diamonds in 5 mths
MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) - The Russian State Precious Metals and Gemstones Repository (Gokhran) has sold 960 million rubles worth of rough diamonds so far this year, a Gokhran source told Interfax.
The total included 920 million rubles in gem diamonds up to 10.8 carats and 40 million rubles in diamonds weighing 10.8 carats or more.
The Gokhran aims to sell 2.35 billion rubles worth of rough diamonds this year as a whole - 1.94 billion rubles of them in Russia.
The source said demand for diamonds was "not very stable" as recently as March, but started to pick up in April.
The Gokhran did not start to sell diamonds until April last year. In 2009 as a whole, the Gokhran sold 1.391 billion rubles in diamonds in Russia and exported 214.5 million rubles worth, but missed its year's target due to reduced demand for diamonds.