Russian body says Alrosa was largest diamond producer in 2009
March 10, 2010
Russian diamond mining monopoly Alrosa was the world's largest diamond producer in 2009, the Russian Information Center has announced.
Alrosa mined 34.7 million carats of diamonds compared to 24.6 million carats mined by De Beers.
Alrosa's mining output last year was worth $2.34 billion, the centre announced.
However, Alrosa, unlike De Beers, did not cut production due to falling demand worldwide for diamond jewellery. De Beers slashed output by 91 percent in the first quarter of 2009, and its production for the whole of 2009 was around half that of 2008.
Alrosa continued to produce and sold around 41 billion of diamonds to Russia's state precious minerals repository, the Gokhran.
