Surge in diamond demand could continue to mid-Nov, further on everything depends on U.S. market - Alrosa head
MOSCOW. Sept 14 (Interfax) - The current momentum of growth on the diamond market could continue for one and a half to two months, Alrosa head Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying in Mirny by local TV channel Almazny Krai.
"The market was without the necessary raw materials for a fairly long time, and now there is a good surge of demand for diamonds. Without a doubt, we are capable of satisfying this demand in full. Nevertheless, we need to wait until November-December. For now, we reckon there will be demand for one and a half to two months. Further on, we'll need to see," Ivanov said.
After this, everything will depend on the situation on the key jewelry sales market - in the United States, where recovery is not yet as vigorous as in China.
"Now, it is too early to speak about full-fledged recovery of the market, but we are seeing the first signs of revival: gem-cutting has started up in India and demand for jewelry has returned in China, where we're now seeing very good indicators. The main issue is how the holidays will go in the U.S. There are a great deal of problems there, from the point of view of the economy, purchasing power, and the main thing - sentiments. It is important that people return to stores," he said.
Ivanov said that excluding external negative signals for the sector there were grounds to expect recovery of demand before the Christmas holidays.
"We can hope that if there are no new external shocks for the industry, we will see recovery of demand in the run-up to the sector's preparations for the Christmas period, which accounts for around 30% of annual jewelry sales," he said.
In August until the beginning of September, Alrosa sold more products than in the last four to five months, he said.
As reported, in August, Alrosa's sales totaled $216.7 million, which is six-fold higher than the $35.8 million of July and double the amount of the entire preceding pandemic period.