(IDEX Online) - Exports of Swiss watches grew again during September, driven by a huge 24 per cent increase in Hong Kong, the world's third biggest market.But sales in the US, representing about a sixth of demand globally, slipped by 6.4 per cent to CHF 344.7m ($381m) following a 13.5 per cent rise in August, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry Exports (FHS).China showed s...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Kering, the French luxury group that owns Boucheron and other high jewelry maisons, suffered a a 13 per cent decline in Q3 sales.Group revenue was down to to ?,?4.46bn ($4.72bn) in the face of what it called "challenging macroeconomic conditions and softening demand across the luxury industry".Revenue from its fashion brands - Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta - al...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's gross exports of polished diamonds fell again during September, compared with the same month in 2022.But actual foreign sales in dollars are increasing month on month, according to new figures from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). Exports during September were $1.67bn, up almost 19 per cent on August. In turn August exports were up almost...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers says its full-year production forecast for 2023 remains unchanged - at 30m to 33m carats - despite a 23 per cent drop in Q3 output.Most of that was because of its Venetia mine, in South Africa, switching from open-pit to underground production. Output there fell 78 per cent, from 1.65m carats in Q3 2022 to 365,000 carats.Overall De Beers' production fell from 9.1m car...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A jeweler was robbed at gunpoint hours after he posted a $150,000 Patek Philippe watch for sale on Instagram.Two men waited outside his store, at Jeweler's Row, in the center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, and followed him to his home 30 miles away in Newtown, Bucks County."They sat outside of our store for three hours, where I had walked in and out of the store a few tim...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's Greenlab Diamonds has signed a $120m deal to manufacture lab growns for Saudi Arabia's Dana Al Alami Jewelry.Greenlab has four factories in Surat producing 200,000 carats of lab growns a month. It also the company that grew the 7.5-carat diamond that India's prime minister Narendra Modi presented to US First Lady Jill Biden Prime during a state visit in June....Read More
(IDEX Online) - Charles Michel, President of the European Council, said the G7 and EU were committed to taking coordinated action to curb Russia's earnings from the diamond trade.He told 450 delegates at the FACETS 2023 Diamonds For Change conference in Botswana yesterday (25 October): "Natural resources should never finance war or human rights abuses. Rather they should breathe life into pea...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fancy color diamonds saw a second quarter of slower growth, according to the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) but remained well ahead of colorless diamonds, which are in long-term decline. The FCRF Index, which tracks prices across all colors, sizes and intensities, rose by 0.4 per cent during Q3, compared with increases of 0.5 per cent in Q2 and 1.3 per cent in Q...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A man spent the night locked inside a jewelry vault at the World Diamond Tower, at 580 Fifth Avenue, New York.An employee is understood to have closed the doors at around 8.45pm on Tuesday night (24 October), unaware the man was inside accessing his safety deposit box.Firefighters spent 10 hours trying to penetrate the 30-inch steel-reinforced concrete walls, in the basement of the...Read More
(In association with Quantumrock) Professional investors are being offered a new and lucrative opportunity to put their capital into rough emeralds and ultra-rare alexandrite.Quantumrock, an pioneering investment solutions company, says it aims to achieve value increases in excess of 25 per cent a year, over a two-year term.It has launched what it describes as the first structured, professional in...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) has halted all rough sales as global demand remains at record low levels.It says it has cancelled its November auction and may do likewise in December."For the first time, we have had to build up inventory as we do not want to just irresponsibly release goods into a market which is already oversupplied," managing director Mmetla Masire said in an inte...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The US jewelry sector shrank yet again in Q3 of this year, with the overall loss of 485 retailers and almost 140 wholesalers and manufacturers, as measured by Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) listings. The total number of businesses fell by 2.6 per cent compared with the same three months in 2022, according to new statistics and trend data published earlier this week by JBT...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Groups representing the diamond and jewelry industries have issued messages of support after Hamas terrorist massacred 1,400 people in Israel.The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) said it stood in "full support of Israel and our Israeli friends, family, and colleagues during these trying times".It put out a joint statement with the Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Associatio...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's polished diamond exports could fall by as much as 35 per cent this financial year, the ratings agency Crisil, to $14bn to $15bn.It blames weak consumer demand in the US, EU and China (which together account for 75 per cent of foreign sales), rough supplies disrupted by the war in Ukraine and the plunging price of lab growns.The Mumbai-based agency notes that Israel...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 20.19-carat fancy intense VVS1 pink diamond will lead the Phillips' inaugural Geneva Jewels auction next month, with an estimate of $11m to $16.5m.It is one of the four largest fancy intense pink diamonds ever to be auctioned and is the most valuable jewel ever presented by Phillips.The cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant-cut diamond (pictured) is accented with...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Zimbabwe's biggest diamond producer is now conducting almost all its sales in Dubai, in a move it has described as a "game changer".The state-owned ZCDC (Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company) has sold 4m carats there so far this year, up from 850,000 carats in the whole of 2022."For us, Dubai has been a game changer," sales and marketing manager Enock Moyo told Bloomberg News...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany says it bought the largest fancy vivid yellow diamond ever found in Canada - for an undisclosed sum - and has created from it two emerald-cut gems, weighing over 15 carats and 20 carats.The octahedron diamond, weighing 71.26 carats, was found at the Ekati mine, in Northwest Territories, in 2021.Tiffany bought the rough stone last summer, and showed it to VIP clients at priv...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Production at Canada's three diamond mines hit a record high of US $1.58bn (CAN $2.17bn) in 2022, according to the government department Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).That's a 28 per cent increase for Ekati, Diavik and Gahcho Kue, all located in Northwest Territories.But it's unlikely the figure will be exceeded. Diavik, operated by Rio Tinto, is ramping dow...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Rio Tinto is to hold The Beyond Rare Tender, showcasing polished pink and red diamonds from the now-closed Argyle mine in Australia, and yellow stones from Diavik, beneath a frozen lake in northern Canada.A total of 48 lots will be offered for sale in a series of invitation-only events staring next month.The first collection comprises 87 diamonds, weighing 29.96 carats in total, an...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers CEO Al Cook has written an open letter to G7 leaders urging them to adopt the World Diamond Council's (WDC) proposal to outlaw Russian diamonds.It is one of four frameworks being considered - the others are from Belgium, India and France - to enforce sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.The G7 nations, responsible for 70 per cent of g...Read More