Russia's Alrosa expects 6 pct fall in first-quarter diamond sales

MOSCOW, March 22 (Reuters) - Russian diamond miner Alrosa expects its first-quarter sales to be down 6 percent at $1.25 billion compared with a year ago, the state-controlled company said in a presentation for its investor day on Wednesday.

Alrosa, the world's largest producer of rough diamonds, plans to increase diamond output to 39.2 million carats in 2017 from 37.4 million carats in 2016, it said in the presentation. Production is expected to reach 40.4 million carats in 2021.

Alrosa and Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) 's De Beers together produce about half the world's rough diamonds.

New Chief Executive Sergey Ivanov Jr said last Thursday he would remain committed to the Russian state-controlled company's strategy, which has focused on mining, selling non-core assets and increasing production organically.

According to VTB Capital, Alrosa once again confirmed its commitment to the long-term strategy at an investor day it held in London without media access.

With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) the new management, the long-expected divestment of Alrosa's non-core oil and gas assets in Russia might get additional impetus, analysts at VTB Capital said in a note. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Susan Thomas)