MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian diamond miner Alrosa has no plans to reduce production amid tougher Western sanctions, its chief executive Pavel Marinychev said on Thursday.
The Russian finance ministry said last month that Russia will regularly buy diamonds from the sanctions-hit producer through a state fund, suggesting that Western restrictions on the country's diamond exports may be having some impact.
Group of Seven (G7) countries banned direct imports of Russian diamonds in January. A European Union and G7 ban on imports of Russia-origin diamonds via third countries came into effect last month.
But in comments posted on Alrosa's official Telegram channel on Thursday, Marinychev said the company is not planning to scale back production.
"Accordingly, we are looking at issues of diversification and believe that sanctions are not a reason not to work, but, on the contrary, are a reason to develop", Marinychev said.
Alrosa is the world's largest producer of rough diamonds by volume, with 30% of the market.
Last year the company cut its output by 2.8% to 34.6 million carats.
(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
