Russian diamond producer Alrosa on Friday reported a 60% fall in March sales versus a year earlier citing the spread of the coronavirus for the fall in demand. The virus also hit the diamond trade, which traditionally involves a lot of travelling, with border closures and quarantine measures across the world. The world’s largest producer of rough diamonds by carats tried to offset the crisis partially by offering options for online trade and relaxed payment terms for its contracts in March. [nL8N2B576P] However, March sales still fell 56% versus February and long-term contracts with several customers were terminated ... (full story)