Russian diamond miner Alrosa ALRS.MM, the world’s largest diamond producer, slipped into a loss in the first half of 2026 amid an ongoing industry crisis and a strong rouble, the company said on Thursday.
Alrosa’s net loss for the first half of the year amounted to 9.5 billion roubles ($110.08 million), compared with a profit of 40.6 billion roubles a year earlier.
Revenue, including subsidies, fell 33% year-on-year to 91.7 billion roubles due to weak market conditions, compounded by the strengthening rouble, relatively high interest rates and inflation in Russia.
Alrosa, with a global market share of about 30%, reduced production by 10% to 29.8 million carats in 2025.
The company expects output to decline to 25 to 26 million carats in 2026 and then recover to 29 to 30 million carats once the market stabilises.
By the end of the first half of 2026, the Russian company had accumulated diamond inventories worth 150.8 billion roubles.
Alrosa, which has been under Western sanctions since 2022, temporarily suspended operations at low-margin assets in 2025 and 2026.
Alrosa said it was seeing inventory normalisation in India’s diamond-cutting sector following large-scale destocking in 2024 to 2025, as well as rising polished-diamond prices across all size categories and stable demand for diamonds larger than two carats.
Continued strong demand by value for high-end jewellery in key consumer markets, including the United States, India and China, supports expectations of a recovery in the market balance over the medium term, the company said.
($1 = 86.3000 roubles)
(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; editing by Sharon Singleton)
