(IDEX Online) - LVMH's on-off-on-again deal to buy Tiffany & Co is finally set to be approved by the jewelers' shareholders on Wednesday, 13 months after it was first agreed.The French luxury conglomerate dramatically walked away from the $16.2bn acquisition in September, sparking bitter recriminations and legal threats from both sides.They went on to patch up their differ...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's gem and jewelry sector is increasingly turning to digital channels to drive business following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, a credit agency said.The proportion of small businesses using online methods to sell products has more than quadrupled to 55% since the beginning of Covid-19, compared with 13% before, according to a survey that India-based Crisil Ratings release...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales in the US fell 4.3% during the holiday period, even as e-commerce sales for the category soared.Online sales of jewelry rose 45% year on year for the extended seasonal period, according to data from Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracked purchases from October 11 through Christmas Eve. The jump in digital spending could not make up for the decreased foot traffic in store...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has introduced a new membership category for lab-grown diamond traders, claiming the move will help the sector expand.GJEPC members can now opt to identify themselves as lab-grown diamond businesses, enabling others to know that they are active in this area, the organization told Rapaport News Friday. The move followed r...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Botswana has introduced a night-time curfew in an attempt to avoid what has been described as an "impending catastrophe".The world's biggest supplier of diamonds has seen exports fall by over 40 per cent during the pandemic. President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi imposed a 7pm to 4am curfew from December 24 to January 3 and renewed the country's state of emergency.Bots...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Bharat Diamond Bourse, in Mumbai, is poised to lift its 2015 ban on trading lab-grown diamonds.Members of the world's largest diamond hub are expected to approve the proposal at the bourse's annual general meeting tomorrow (28 December).Many have diversified into lab-growns since the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) ban was introduced, and feel that technology now allows a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A counterfeiter avoided a jail term in Britain, after he admitted selling fake Pandora jewelry worth $495,000 on eBay.Usman Sadiq, 38, initially claimed all the goods were genuine, but later pleaded guilty to five trademark offences.He was caught out when trading standards officers bought a $28 Disney charm from his eBay platform. They had it analyzed and determined it was counterf...Read More
RAPAPORT... Wedding spending in the US dropped in 2020 and will remain low in 2021, even as the number of people tying the knot next year is expected to surge, a survey found.This year, 1.1 million couples wed, compared to an average of 2.13 million over each of the last two years, according to the latest data published by the Wedding Report. The average spend on a wedding in 2020 was $19,850...Read More
Mood optimistic as US and European dealers close for holidays. E-commerce surges; US online sales +30% on Super Saturday and +56% on Sunday before Christmas. Brick-and-mortar quiet due to spread of Covid-19. Chinese jewelers expecting release of pent-up demand during Feb. 12 Lunar New Year. Manufacturers raising polished production in anticipation of post-holiday inventory replacement. Rough tradi...Read More
RAPAPORT... US consumer confidence fell almost 5% this month amid the latest coronavirus wave, according to the Conference Board.The business data group's Consumer Confidence Index declined to 88.6 in December, from 92.9 in November, it reported Tuesday. Americans gave a weaker assessment of current business and labor conditions - a fact that outweighed an improvement in their short-term outl...Read More
RAPAPORT... New York's Diamond District is set to sparkle on TV this Tuesday night in the documentary series Streets of Dreams with Marcus Lemonis.The series presenter is a self-declared "champion of entrepreneurs" who is seeking to discover what makes America's most famous streets tick. As Lemonis walks amid the hustle and bustle of hawkers and diamond dealers on 47th Street, he has one clea...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company is in advanced negotiations to acquire the Merlin mine in Australia after the site's owner entered liquidation earlier this year."The Lucapa board considers that Merlin would be complementary to the company's existing niche operating mines and exploration projects in Angola, Australia, Botswana and Lesotho, and is a development opportunity that would significantl...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa raised $7m at its fourth online sale of special-size rough.The Russian state-owned miner launched digital tenders in May to give buyers an opportunity to buy large stones (over 10.8-carats) remotely using 3D scans by Sarine.It hasn't disclosed the value of previous sales. In December it sold 80 per cent of the goods available - 185 rough diamonds with a tota...Read More
RAPAPORT... Romania's Supreme Court has sentenced mining magnate Beny Steinmetz to five years' imprisonment in a land-fraud case, according to Israeli media.The businessman, who has counted diamond mines among his vast interests, was accused of being involved in corruption carried out by a company for which he was a partner and adviser, Globes reported last week.Following the fall of Communis...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The average spend on an engagement ring fell slightly in the US to $5,500 this year.That's according to a survey on 5,000 newly-engaged individuals for online wedding website The Knot.It dipped slightly from $5,900 in 2019 as one in eight couples shopped virtually for a ring. But the pandemic had only a "minimal" effect on their spend, said The Knot 2020 Jewelry & En...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The recovery in sales of US watch and jewelry continues, with a fifth consecutive month of year-on-year increases.October's 18.6 per cent rise was another record high. The jump from September appears at first more modest than recent monthly increases, a possible indication that sales are finding their level, but it's likely the figure will be revised upwards, in line with...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The alarming decline in of Swiss watch exports slowed in November, buoyed by a robust recovery in China.Exports are down 23.5 per cent year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2020, according to new figures released by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.But the sector's biggest single market, China, saw sales up by almost 70 per cent to $338m, a stark contrast with Octob...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Christie's is to auction 106 pieces of runway jewelry designed by the late Karl Lagerfeld during his 36-year tenure as the brand's creative director.The statement brooches, necklaces, earrings and other items, many of them oversize, are made of rhinestone, faux pearl, gripoix glass and other non-precious materials. High estimates are up to $6,000 for the most valuabl...Read More
RAPAPORT... BlueRock Diamonds has increased the estimate of total rough carats available at its Kareevlei mine in South Africa, following a recent drilling program at the site.The results indicate total carats at the mine to be 513,500, a 52% increase over the 367,000 originally forecast in 2018, the company said Tuesday. So far, BlueRock has mined 28,500 carats from the site. The drilling also re...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A parcel of diamonds seized three years ago from UK-listed miner Petra has been declared property of Tanzania's government.It has nationalized the shipment, now said to be worth $29.5m, after a court ruled that two former government employees had deliberately undervalued the gems, which were destined for Antwerp, according to a report on Turkey's state-run Anadolu news ag...Read More