E-commerce driving sales at start of US holiday season. Black Friday online spending +22% to $9B, Cyber Monday +15% to $10.8B, reports Adobe Analytics. In-store shopping sluggish due to ongoing spread of Covid-19. Foot traffic -55% on Thanksgiving Day, according to NRF. Black Friday jewelry sales -54%, says RetailNext. Signet 3Q sales +9% to $1.3B, profit of $9.3M vs. loss of $36M. Cyberattack dis...Read More
RAPAPORT... Stuller has made progress recovering from a cyberattack that struck over the weekend, with deliveries resuming and communications systems back in action."As customers place orders this week, we are committed to and anticipate meeting our quoted lead times and delivery dates," Stuller president Danny Clark said Wednesday in a note to clients.The US jewelry wholesaler is getting "cl...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has released the polished results of a 46-carat pink rough it sold into a manufacturing partnership with Graff subsidiary Safdico. A heart-shaped, 15.2-carat, fancy-intense-orangey-pink, VVS1-clarity diamond is one of three stones Safdico cut from the largest gem-quality, colored diamond ever recovered from Lucapa's Lulo operation in Angola, the miner said T...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong customs officials seized 162 diamonds at a border with China last week, claiming the stones had been smuggled in a driver's trouser pocket.The goods had a market value of around HKD 6.4 million ($826,000), making it the largest diamond-smuggling case Hong Kong authorities had detected in the past three years, the Customs and Excise Department said in a statement Friday.O...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Struggling Petra Diamonds has completed the sale of its exploration vehicle Sekaka.It's been bought by rivals Botswana Diamonds, which will benefit from the high-grade KX36 kimberlite pipe 260km north-west of Gaborone, in the Kalahari, as well as a fit-for-purpose kimberlite processing plant and an extensive diamond exploration database.Botswana Diamonds believes the database...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The owner of an 18lb solid gold eagle encrusted with 763 diamonds has lost the latest round of court battle with insurers.Ron Shore, president of a company called Forgotten Treasures International, reported the treasure stolen during a robbery in British Columbia, Canada, in 2016 as he was placing it in the trunk of his car. He had it specially made as the prize in an internat...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong customs officials seized 162 diamonds at a border crossing with China last week, claiming the stones had been smuggled in a driver's trouser pocket.The goods had a market value of around HKD 6.4 million ($826,000), making it the largest diamond-smuggling case Hong Kong authorities had detected in the past three years, the Customs and Excise Department said in a statement...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sales of jewelry, timepieces and other valuable gifts remain depressed in Hong Kong, despite a Covid lull during October.It was one of the worst-hit retail sectors, according to the country's Census and Statistics Department reported today. Cosmetics, tobacco and alcohol fared even less well.Year-on-year sales for the month were down 27 per cent, showing little sign of improve...Read More
RAPAPORT... The average spend over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend dropped 14% as consumers shied away from in-store shopping, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Analytics.Shoppers spent an average of $312 on holiday-related purchases between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, compared to $362 for the same period last year, the NRF said Tuesday. However, t...Read More
RAPAPORT... The World Diamond Museum, a virtual exhibition, has published its first book on the history of the precious stone as part of an effort to invigorate passion for diamonds.The 432-page work, Diamonds Across Time, contains chapters on famous and important stones, the history of diamonds in specific countries, and colored diamonds. It was compiled and edited by Usha Balakrishnan, the...Read More
RAPAPORT... US consumers shelled out a record $10.8 billion on e-commerce purchases on Cyber Monday, which broke last year's record to become the largest online shopping day in US history, according to Adobe Analytics.Digital sales for the day increased 15% year on year compared with the $9.4 billion spent in 2019, Adobe said Tuesday. While the total figure is higher than any previously achieved,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Stuller, one of the largest US jewelry wholesalers, was the victim of a cyberattack on Saturday morning, resulting in delays to orders at a critical point in the holiday season.Customers may experience "several circumstances that are non-Stuller-like" this week following the hack, including delayed shipments and intermittent phone interruptions, president Danny Clark said Monday i...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong slid in October, even as an upturn in the health situation eased the market slowdown.Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuable gifts fell 27% year on year to HKD 2.88 billion ($370.9 million) for the month. While the drop was significant, it was less sharp than the declines seen in the past few months, Hong Kong's Cens...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has launched a representative outpost in the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE), paving the way for a deeper trading relationship between the two markets.The DMCC, a state-funded trading hub that houses a diamond exchange, officially opened the office on Monday in a ceremony in Ramat Gan. The location will help Israeli businesses across all ind...Read More
RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, December 1, 2020, Las Vegas... Diamond market sentiment improved in November amid rising expectations for the holiday season. A recovery in China and robust sales during India's Diwali festival also lifted the mood. Polished prices are stable for 1-carat and larger goods. The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat stones edged up 0.5% in November. RapNet Diamond Ind...Read More
RAPAPORT... Columbia Gem House will hold an auction of pieces by 25 designers to raise awareness of human exploitation across the gem and jewelry industry.The company launched an invitational design challenge among the designers to create jewelry using stones it provided as part of its Ethical in Action initiative. Columbia Gem House, which deals in fair trade and responsibly sourced colored gemst...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Customs officers in Hong Kong made their biggest diamond seizure for three years at a crossing point into mainland China.The driver of a truck destined for Shenzhen was found to have 160 gems worth $840,000 stuffed into a trouser pocket. Criminals try to smuggle diamonds from Hong Kong to factories across the border to avoid paying import taxes of up to 20 per cent.In this cas...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Dubai's free trade zone yesterday opened an office at the Israel Diamond Exchange, in a landmark move to promote commerce and cooperation.Officials from the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC) and the Dubai Diamond Exchange flew in on the first regularly scheduled flight from the UAE to Israel.It follows the US-brokered Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between the coun...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fancy cuts suffered in November with price drops across colors and clarities among smaller stones, in marked contrast to September's blitz of increases. Decreases also dominated, though less severely, in larger goods. Rounds fared better, with a more or less even mix of ups and downs.HIGHLIGHTED CHANGESRounds0.90-0.99 ct. E / IF-VVS1 +2.5%, F / VS1-2 ...Read More
RAPAPORT... US jewelry sales plunged 54% year on year on Black Friday as consumers stayed away from physical stores, according to shopping tracker RetailNext.Total footfall at brick-and-mortar stores decreased 48%, while in-store purchases across all categories slid 30%, RetailNext reported Saturday. The drop was also due to a lack of "doorbuster" sales, in which retailers offer large discounts on...Read More