Diamond Jewelry Demand at a ‘Record High,’ Alrosa Says

New York—Consumers’ current, and seemingly insatiable, appetite for diamond jewelry has pushed demand to record levels, Alrosa said, and continues to fuel midstream demand. 

Alrosa reported earlier this month that sales of rough and polished diamonds totaled $298 million in September—$289 million in rough and $9 million in polished. 

That is 11 percent below the $336 million it generated in rough and polished sales in September 2020—which is right around the time diamond demand began to recover—but remains ahead of September 2019 sales of $258.7 million. 

And Alrosa is still posting significant year-over-year gains.  

The mining company’s rough and polished diamonds sales have totaled $3.27 billion through the first nine months of 2021, more than double the $1.58 billion it had generated at the same point last year, and up 35 percent from $2.42 million in 2019. 

“According to our preliminary estimates, end consumer demand for diamond jewelry is record high,” Deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev said, noting both the United States and China are up double-digits compared to 2019 and jewelry sales in Europe are gaining momentum.

This is fueling strong demand in the midstream and pushing up rough prices. Agureev said the rough diamond price index has returned to 2018 levels, and polished diamond prices are surpassing the 2018 average.  

“Our clients are mostly optimistic about the upcoming festive season, and we expect the positive trend to continue into 2022,” he concluded.  

On Wednesday, De Beers Group reported rough diamond sales of $490 million for the period Oct. 4-19, its eighth sales cycle of the year.

That is up 5 percent from $467 million in cycle 8 2020 and well ahead of $297 million in cycle 8 2019. 

Year-to-date, the company’s diamond sales have totaled approximately $4 billion, double the $1.9 billion it had sold at this point last year (though, De Beers noted, it had one less sales cycle in 2020 due to COVID-19) and up from $3.2 billion in 2019.  

De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver also noted continued strong demand for diamond jewelry in the U.S., and said the company experienced “robust” demand for rough diamonds ahead of Diwali, when many polishing factories in India will close to celebrate the days-long festival.