7 Apr 2022 14:10

M.Suresh subsidiary in Vladivostok not having trouble selling polished diamonds

VLADIVOSTOK. April 7 (Interfax) - The M.Suresh Group's subsidiary in Vladivostok is not having any difficulty selling polished diamonds amid sanctions, its head, Rupesh Gautam, told reporters.

The M.Suresh Group, which is part of the De Beers conglomerate, has invested $3 million in LLC M.Suresh Vladivostok, which cuts and polishes diamonds supplied by Yakutia-based mining company Alrosa , in the last three years, Gautam said. Planned overall investment in the project is $4.7 million.

"We started operating in 2019, and first export deliveries were carried out in 2020. And then the pandemic began. There was production in 2020, but the borders were closed and exports were delayed for four or five months, so we had to sell more cheaply, with a minimal margin. We did not close, we worked, including Russian citizens," he said.

The enterprise produced 5,000 carats of polished diamonds in 2021 and plans to double that in 2022.

It is currently buying 2,500 carats of rough each month.

"We produce only jewelry diamonds from Russian rough. Around half [the rough] is lost [during cutting and polishing] and only waste that cannot be used is left. If we get a 40% result then that's good. We'll be ramping up volumes in 2022 and 2023," Gautam said.

He said the enterprise was working at 70% of its capacity at present and would be down to 50% once new equipment has been installed. "There'll be more technology, more equipment. We are capable of producing much more. But we have two problems - a lack of people and rough, things are not that straightforward there. Everything is in order with supplies [of rough] for now. We should have 200 people, but at present we have 61. Indian citizens make up 70% of the staff as there are no such specialists in Primorye. We are of course looking for people with experience, but we are prepared to take on 10 without experience and train them," Gautam said.

All the polished diamonds are exported. "The sanctions have not affected us. We work only for export. We have our own group of companies [M.Suresh], we are only a small part of it. So we sell to Botswana and the UAE, and then the whole world. There are our points of sale. We calculated that we would take the markets that are next to Vladivostok - these are South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. But as soon as the pandemic started, everything was closed, so we continued to sell through our own channels," Gautam said.

M.Suresh, established in 1968, buys rough diamonds from Rio Tinto and Dominion Diamonds as well as Alrosa.

LLC M.Suresh Vladivostok was set up in June 2018, according to the SPARK-Interfax system. M.Suresh owns 99% and Indian businessman Rajesh Kothari owns 1% of the company.