Alrosa sold $337.6 million worth of diamonds in October as the rough market improved, the Russian miner reported.

The figure was 9% higher than September, when factories were preparing to close for Diwali. That month, Alrosa allowed its contract-sales clients to reject up to 50% of allocated goods, instead of the usual cap of 30%, in response to the slowdown. Trading levels improved in October, with demand for smaller rough diamonds increasing toward the end of the month, Alrosa explained.

However, proceeds were still 23% below the same month a year ago, when the company sold off a larger volume of goods from its stockpiles, it added.

Rough-diamond sales fell to $326.7 million in October, from the $430.8 million the company reported a year earlier. Polished sales jumped 33% year on year to $10.9 million.

In the first 10 months, sales amounted to $3.7 billion, of which $3.62 billion came from rough and $79 million from polished, Alrosa said. It did not provide a comparison with last year.

During October, Alrosa also found three large rough diamonds at its Jubilee mine in Yakutia. Two of them, weighing 108.34 carats and 82.82 carats, were yellow-tinted stones with small inclusions. The third diamond, at 161.11 carats, had a yellow hue and inclusions near its surface.

“Simultaneous extraction of three large rough diamonds, two of which are over 100 carats, within such a short period of time, is a one-off event, especially when it comes to gem-quality diamonds,” said Evgeny Agureev, director of the miner’s United Selling Organization, which will assess the stones.