(IDEX Online) - Alrosa reported a 28 per cent increase in year-on-year revenue for Q1 from rough and polished sales - up to $1.16bn.The figure was down five per cent on the previous quarter and comprised $1.126bn of rough and $33m of polished.In its quarterly operating results, the Russian state-owned miner said demand for diamond jewelry remained sustainably high at all the key markets.&nbs...Read More
Polished market seasonally slow. Uncertainty over impact of Mumbai lockdown as Maharashtra state tightens restrictions. GIA backlog expected to grow as Surat continues to produce diamonds. Concerns in colored-diamond market as GIA detects treatment in green stones. US retail upbeat as Mar. jewelry sales +106%, reports Mastercard. Signet 1Q forecast for revenue +88% to $1.6B. LVMH 1Q jewelry and wa...Read More
The diamond trade reduced its reliance on banks during Covid-19 and has adopted better compliance, governance and transparency standards in recent years.RAPAPORT... In the first issue of the Rapaport Research Report, which came out in January 2018, we highlighted the mistrust that existed between the diamond industry and its lenders. Diamantaires argued that the banks had an unjustified high-risk...Read More
RAPAPORT... Three rings featuring diamonds with fancy-vivid color stole the show at the Christie's Magnificent Jewels auction, selling for more than $8 million combined.The trio of jewels, called the Perfect Palette, achieved a total of $8.4 million at the New York sale, Christie's said Tuesday. A 2.17-carat, fancy-vivid-purplish-pink diamond ring brought in $3.5 million, beating its $2.5 million...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's gem and jewelry industry has obtained an exemption from the strict Covid-19 measures that have gone into effect in Mumbai and the surrounding region.The government of Maharashtra state announced new rules on Tuesday, restricting gatherings and activities and allowing only essential services to operate. These include the export and import of all commodities, enabling the di...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The GIA has won a trademark infringement suit against another grading lab - AIG Belgium - over its use of a "look-alike logo".A Belgian court said it would impose a fine of up to $600,000 for any future use of the offending seal design or of the standalone letters AIG.It referred to AIG's "attempt to sail on the success of GIA's marks".Online visitors to AIG Belgium...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Antwerp's first-quarter exports of rough were up by almost 40 per cent by value as markets continued their recovery from the depths of the Covid pandemic.Total sales were almost $2.6bn - up just over 14 per cent by weight to 25.8m carats - according to new figures from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).The combined value of traded rough diamonds - imports plus exports -...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelry and watch sales at LVMH rose in the first quarter, buoyed by the inclusion of Tiffany & Co. for the first time.Revenue for the category surged 138% year on year to EUR 1.88 billion ($2.24 billion) for the three months ending March 31, the company said Tuesday. The quarter is the first to incorporate sales from Tiffany, which the French luxury conglomerate purchased in Janua...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A man has admitted hiring a killer to shoot his father, a well-known jeweler in Texas, USA and has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.Nicolas Patrick Shaughnessy, 22, entered a guilty plea to a capital murder charge, following the death of his father Ted in March 2018.He reportedly hoped to profit from $2m in life insurance - to which he was sole beneficiary - as well as bu...Read More
RAPAPORT... Production of rough diamonds at the Murowa mine in Zimbabwe declined 15% in 2020 amid a move to lower-grade resources.Output came to 579,000 carats for the full year, compared with 685,000 carats in 2019, owner RioZim said last week. The drop in production was primarily due to the processing of lower-grade ore from the K2 portion of the mine following the depletion of the site's higher...Read More
RAPAPORT... US polished-diamond imports fell again in February after showing signs of stabilizing in the previous month, according to recent data from the US Department of Commerce. Shipments dropped 7% to $1.35 billion as a 9% drop in the average price outweighed a slight increase in the volume of imports.US Trade Data for February 2021 Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemological Science International (GSI) has launched a laboratory in Jaipur, aiming to tap into the Indian city's rich heritage as a center for gemstones.The new location will offer all of GSI's core services, as well as a dedicated division specializing in the origins and identification of colored stones, the organization said Monday. The laboratory will feature advanced equipmen...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An Australian man has appeared in court charged with insider trading over a high-value diamond discovery.He's alleged to have bought up shares in Lonhro - now Lucapa - for a family member when he learned of a high-value diamond discovery the company had made in Africa back in 2012.The find was only made public five days later, by which time the shares bought had increased in v...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's gross exports of gems and jewelry saw "remarkable growth" in March as they surged by over 78 per cent year-on-year.Foreign sales took a huge hit for most of the financial year which has just ended, but rallied significantly in the three months since January, according to news figures from trade body Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).Overall exports fel...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Pandora reported an increase in its Q1 revenue, even though it's having to close more retail outlets because of the Covid pandemic.The Danish jeweler, best known for its charm bracelets, said sales for the quarter were up 13 per cent on organic basis to $719m.That's in spite of the fact that 35 per cent of its 7,000 points of sale globally were closed for business as of t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Murowa mine, in Zimbabwe, reported a 15 per cent drop in its diamond production for 2020 as known deposits begin to run dry.Owners RioZim said it was exploring sites near the three kimberlites pipes currently being worked in the southern central Midlands Province.Rough output in the year ending 31 December 2020 from the RioZim associate RZM Murowa Private Limited was 579,000 ca...Read More
RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has predicted sales growth of up to 88% for the first fiscal quarter after positive market conditions resulted in a better start to the year than the retailer had anticipated."Signet has seen stronger-than-expected conversion and average ticket values in the first quarter," the jeweler explained Monday. "The company believes this top-line strength is likely due to...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales in the US more than doubled in March, buoyed by government stimulus payments and a broader reopening across the country, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.Sales in the category increased 106% year on year during the month, also benefiting from a strong base comparison with March of last year, the first month in which US retail was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, Masterc...Read More
RAPAPORT... Two pieces of green glass imitating valuable tourmalines have turned up at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) after manufacturers apparently used innovative techniques to make the shards look like real gemstones.The bluish-green prisms weighing 1.91 and 1.92 carats resembled either Paraiba tourmaline with copper inclusions or emeralds with pyrite inclusions, the GIA said i...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The United States has blacklisted Myanmar's state-owned gem company following the removal of state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi as leader in a military coup in February.Myanma Gems Enterprise, part of the country's ministry of mines, is said to be responsible for all sales of the country's ruby, jade and other gems.The US Treasury Department has banned it from a...Read More