Economic News
December 26, 2007 Wednesday
Alrosa Company to Export USD 30 mln Worth of Rough Diamonds to
Armenia
Yerevan. "OREANDA-NEWS . December 25, 2007. On December 21, a press
conference of the Minister of Trade and Economic Development Nerses
Yeritsyan and the President of ALROSA Mr Sergey Vybornov was held at
the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development of Armenia. Russian
ALROSA diamond exploration and cutting company plans to export
$28-$30 Mln rough diamonds to Armenia, the press office of Armenian
Ministry of Trade and Economic Development reports.
ALROSA Vice-President Sergey Ulin reported that the company plans to
hold another meeting to discuss the results of the first six months
of its cooperation with Armenia and determine the parameters of
cooperation with possible corrections toward larger supplies not only
for the end of next year, but also for 2009, he said.
Minister of Trade and Economic Development, Nerses Yeritsyan
expressed hope that the ALROSA Company will put its plans into
practice within the next few years.
"We have much to do to specify the policy and prospects for
development to amplify the opportunities for business expansion in
Armenia by such a large company as ALROSA, and not only in diamond
processing," the Minister said.
The Chairman of the International Association of Armenian Jewellers,
owner of the DCA diamond-cutting enterprise, member of the RA
Parliament Gagik Abramyan said that experts of the ALROSA Company are
expected to pay a regular visit to Armenia next July to conduct
inspections at the country.s diamond-cutting enterprises.
"The issue of increasing the number of Armenian diamond-cutting
companies meeting the ALROSA-set terms will be considered," he said.
Abramyan pointed out that cooperation in two directions will be
carried out next year.
"At a meeting with President Robert Kocharyan we talked about the
purchase of rough diamonds as well as about the supply of diamonds
for further processing and re-export," he said.
This October, ALROSA experts conducted inspections and made
assessments of 23 Armenian diamond-cutting companies.
Thereafter, they selected four Armenian enterprises that will process
rough diamonds worth $1mln supplied by ALROSA – Daymotek Company,
Arevakn, SCA and Ukos.
On August 6, 2007, in Yerevan, the RA Government and the ALROSA
Company signed an agreement on cooperation in jewellery and
diamond-cutting industries. The agreement envisages the supply of
rough diamonds to Armenia for processing and re-export. Under the
agreement, Armenian diamond-cutting enterprises are to process rough
diamonds 0.30 to 1.5 carats, which process is economically unsound in
Russia.
Russia is one of the largest suppliers of rough diamonds – 1/3% of
the world diamond output. Armenia, in turn, has many professional
diamond-cutters capable of processing up to 1mln carats yearly.
The ALROSA Company is of the world.s largest diamond-extracting
company, its share in the world output being 25%. In 2006, the ALROSA
Group sold products worth $2.86bln, with the sale of cut diamonds
totaling $141.1Mln. ALROSA’s stockholders are Rosimuschestvo (Russian
Property) (37%), the Ministry of State property Management of Yakutia
(32%), individuals and legal entities (23%). Eight Yakut uluses hold
8% of the ALROSA shares.