Russia's government-owned diamond producer is reporting sales of rough and polished diamonds of $2.2 billion for the first half of 2011.

In the period reported – the results of which were disclosed at Thursday's Executive Committee meeting chaired by Alrosa President Fyodor Andreev – Alrosa Group produced 19,326,000 carats of rough diamonds. This figure represents an increase of over 1.7 million carats over H1 2010.

Alrosa's proceeds from sales of goods, works and services totaled $1.5 billion. Following the results of the first half of 2011, the company's net profit amounted to $568 million, 5.5 times the net profit realized in H1 2010.

The Executive Committee also discussed the company's "Innovation Development Program" for 2011-2018, which entails 20-30 planned innovation and modernization projects that are expected to earn Alrosa some $437 million.