According to a recent report in the Kyiv Post, Alrosa, Russia’s largest diamond producer, posted giant losses due to U.S. & E.U. sanctions. Not letting up, new U.S. Customs requirements for diamond traders will make it even more challenging to import Russian goods. Olena Hrazhdan*, Business Editor for the Kyiv Post, reports that Russian diamond producer Alrosa “reported 26% losses in revenues due to sanctions and economic turmoil in Russia, but Russian media also reports Alrosa lost its key buyer – India.” According to the Post’s report, Alrosa “reported almost a billion dollars in losses last year, representing a 26% drop in revenue from the year before.”
*Olena Hrazhdan has written for leading Ukraine’s business media covering banking,
private and public finance, macroeconomics, retail, and legal issues.
She also became a Fellow of the International Monetary Fund’s Journalism Fellowship.
“Alrosa, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds by volume, said it had unsold products worth $1.3 billion compared to the previous year – marking a 78% decrease in net profit since 2023.”
The report goes on to say that, “apart from losses in cash, Alrosa also reported an increase in inventories – produced items stocked in warehouses – by 49.2 billion rubles ($432 million). The Moscow Times ties this to a drop in diamond sales to the Indian market.”
As noted in a 2022 post on the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control website, “Alrosa, a Russian state-owned enterprise (SOE) and the world’s largest diamond mining company, … is also responsible for 90 percent of Russia’s diamond mining capacity.”
The Post also notes from previous reports that Alrosa has announced it may cut staff, and “may suspend some production in 2025.”
Tap here to read the complete report in the Kyiv Post.
In other reports, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses president Yoram Dvash has advised that, “as of April, U.S. customs will require the reporting of diamonds’ country of mining origin and country of origin details. This mandatory information must be submitted through a signed declaration.”
There are SO many questions as to how this will actually be implemented, but the major questions are:
1.) How will diamonds acquired or imported prior to the implementation of these new requirements be regulated?
… and 2.) what allowances will be made regarding the handling of existing diamond stocks, or “grandfather goods”, or for diamonds with unverifiable mining origins?
“We will continue to monitor developments and provide updates as additional guidance becomes available,” Dvash says.
