MOSCOW, December 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's largest diamond producer Alrosa said on Tuesday it expected it diamond output to decline 1.7%, year-on-year, in 2008 to $2.33 billion.
In his statement published in the corporate bulletin, Alrosa President Sergei Vybornov said diamond sales were expected to slip 1.1% to $2.76 billion in 2008 while the sale of quality diamonds would grow 0.6% to $157.2 million.
"The global economic crisis has proved to be extremely painful for the world diamond market. The world's largest diamond producers have turned out to be unprepared in full for such a sharp negative change in the market situation," Vybornov said, adding that the company had decided to reduce supply on the market.
Alrosa, which accounts for 97% of Russian and 25% of global diamond output, produced diamonds worth $2.37 billion in 2007. The Russian government holds a 50.9% stake in the company.
