BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) – Russia’s top diamond producer Alrosa hopes for long-term partnerships with more Chinese partners amid the rapidly growing Chinese jewelry market, said Sergey Ivanov, the company CEO in an interview with Xinhua.
As one of the world’s largest diamond producers, Alrosa has forged long-term cooperation with six large Chinese jewelry sellers and the turnover under long-term contracts jumped 18 percent in 2017, Ivanov said.
The CEO of the world's leading major diamond producer noted that growing middle-class households along with China’s prospering economy generated robust demand for high-end products such as jewelry.
Statistics show that jewelry demand in Asia-Pacific region expanded 11 percent in the first quarter, driven mainly by demand from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.
Ivanov stated Alrosa pinned high hopes on the China market as sales performances of its Chinese partners this year also proved ballooning demand for jewelry in China.
According to the company’s survey of about 4,000 Chinese and U.S. consumers aged 25-55 years old in 2017, 86 percent of Chinese consumers plan to buy at least one diamond jewelry this year, while U.S. consumers having the same intention account for only 59 percent.
Alrosa tried for the first time direct settlement in Russian rouble with its Chinese partners last year, which largely shortened and simplified the entire settlement process, Ivanov disclosed. (Edited by Duan Jing, duanjing@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
