RAPAPORT... Independent jewelry retailers in the US reported solid sales over the holiday period, as consumers had more disposable income and more couples got engaged."Sales were fantastic," said Eva-Michelle Spicer, owner of Spicer Greene Jewelers in Asheville, North Carolina. "In December alone they were up 45% year on year, and last year was our best December ever. We are not only having more s...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond exports from Surat almost doubled in November.India's cutting and polishing capital bounced back from lockdown doldrums with $1.1bn of overseas sales. That's a 92 per cent increase on November 2019, according to the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).The city's 7,000 manufacturing units have been working flat out since they returned to f...Read More
RAPAPORT... Bold designs, unconventional shapes, and big white diamonds are what our Instagram community loved best this year. Looking at the diamond-jewelry posts our 80,000 followers saved the most from @jewelryconnoisseur_by_rapaport, we saw that strong, fierce styles stood out. A "save" means the follower archived the image for future reference, making it a better indicator than a like, s...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Leibish Polnaur, veteran of the color diamond market, bought a quarter of the stones at Argyle's record-breaking tender.He outbid rivals for 16 of the 62 gems in the penultimate sale, marking the closure of the iconic mine, in Australia, after 37 years.Mr Polnaur, founder of Israel-based Leibish, said asking prices 15 per cent higher than last year so he upped his bids by "20...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Pandora said today that its Q4 results are likely to be better than predicted when they are announced in early February.Consumer spending on travel has been curtailed by Covid restrictions, it says, freeing up more money to spend on gifts and feel-good purchases.December revenue beat expectations and underlying performance remained "solid," said the Denmark-based jewelry chain, whi...Read More
RAPAPORT... Amid a challenging year for the industry, diamonds proved the coronavirus pandemic couldn't dampen their appeal. Several stones made headlines, set records, exceeded expectations, or simply showed their sellers the money. Most of all, they caught our attention in 2020.Bringing in the big bucks1.Bundle of bluesIn November, Petra Diamonds sold a set of five blue, type IIb, gem-quality di...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa has joined the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) in a bid to strengthen its position in mainland China.The move opens up new opportunities for direct trade in rough and polished gems in the world's sixth-biggest diamond-importing nation, especially with Covid overseas travel restrictions boosting the domestic market. Alrosa has been trading in China since 2005, has t...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Online sales of jewelry in the US were up almost 45 per cent this year compared to last.That's according to an end-of-year report by Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures overall retail sales across all payment types, including cash and check. Total retail jewlery sales fell by just over four per cent, as the pandemic hit bricks and mortar revenue, but e-commerce rose...Read More
RAPAPORT... A few hot topics usually dominate our annual list of the most-read items on Diamonds.net. Synthetics, grading and crime tend to be among them.This year, however, one theme - the coronavirus - stood out, responsible for the vast majority of the top 10. These stories ranged from the closure of trading halls to De Beers' and Alrosa's pricing strategies during the pandemic.Here are th...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa's Hong Kong operation has become a member of the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) in an effort to increase opportunities for direct rough and polished trading in mainland China.The move will also strengthen ties between Alrosa and the SDE, the miner said Wednesday."In 2020, demand for diamond jewelry in China increased," Alrosa deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev noted. "Covid-19-related t...Read More
RAPAPORT... Members of Mumbai's Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) have voted in favor of allowing lab-grown trading on the premises of the exchange.The change will go into effect once the BDB has created guidelines for the sector, India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said in a statement Tuesday. Companies will be permitted to trade in lab-grown diamonds only after they have...Read More
RAPAPORT... Graff subsidiary Safdico has purchased a substantial number of shares in Lucapa Diamond Company, as part of the miner's bid to raise money for the expansion of its Mothae deposit.Lucapa shareholders approved the sale of 6% of company stock to diamond manufacturer Safdico for AUD 2.7 million ($2.1 million) at its general meeting December 17. In total, Lucapa aimed to raise approximately...Read More
RAPAPORT... The diamond industry underwent rapid changes in 2020 as the coronavirus swept through the world and devastated economies. The much-read Rapaport Weekly Market Comment kept up with the news, narrating the state of the trade while the situation developed at high speed.In the first quarter, this included the virus's shift from an epidemic in China to a major pandemic that shut down r...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Members of the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), in Mumbai, voted yesterday, as expected, to allow the trading of lab-growns.The managing committee of the world's largest bourse will now draw up strict guidelines to keep natural and lab-grown diamonds (LGD) separated and is likely to set aside a dedicated LGD office. No date has been set for the new policy to be implemented.T...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa says it will maintain its "prudent sales strategy" to safeguard the sustainability of the whole diamond pipeline.Sergey Ivanov, CEO, (pictured) was addressing expectations for 2021 and beyond at an end-of-year meeting with banks and financial institutions, held online because of travel restrictions.He said the Russian state-owned company was chasing prices and profit rather...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A restaurant in Colombia is selling gold-plated burgers to boost business during the pandemic.Toro McCoy, in the capital Bogota, is wrapping its standard $11 double beef, cheese and bacon burger in 24k gold foil and charging diners $59 for the privilege.Chef Maria Paula told news media it was a tough job to apply the edible gold leaf without damaging it, before it melted on the bur...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers, Alrosa and Rio Tinto have published their schedules for next year's contract sales, which account for the bulk of the miners' rough supply.De Beers will continue its format of holding 10 sights a year, although the company has been more flexible with the timing of its sales due to the pandemic. Alrosa will also maintain its policy of selling rough on a monthly basis, whi...Read More
RAPAPORT... While many would consider 2020 one of the most challenging years the industry has faced, auction sales told a different story, as successful digital offerings changed the road map for how customers bought luxury products. "While undoubtedly there will still be a place for traditional auctions in the saleroom, the fast-tracked digital route in 2020 has already changed and will continue...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Small jewelry businesses in India say online sales have more than quadrupled since the pandemic struck.The balance has tipped in favor of e-commerce, with digital revenue now exceeding bricks and mortar sales for some enterprises, according to research by the Mumbai-based Crisil ratings agency.The swing is most marked at the lower end of the market, among non-precious, stone-studde...Read More
(IDEX Online) - BlueRock Diamonds has announced two exceptional gem quality stones at its Kareevlei mine in South Africa, signaling the end of a poor run of recoveries. The UK-based miner, which reports all stones over $50,000, says it recovered two gems of 14.8 carats and 8.7 carats.It follows the recovery earlier this month of a 12.8-carat diamond, which has since sold for $76,000 and...Read More