RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers will offer James Allen products in nearly half of its Jared stores through a new, dual-branded model.The Jared + James Allen locations are part of the jeweler's efforts to reposition Jared as a more exclusive, luxurious destination, and provide customers with an "elevated and superior" experience, Signet executive vice president and chief marketing officer Bill Brace to...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The iconic Argyle mine, producer of 90 per cent of the world's pink diamonds, closes today after 37 years.Owners Rio Tinto say the deposit, in Western Australia's remote Kimberley region, is no longer economically viable, despite the high prices commanded by its super-rare stones.The country's only operational diamond mine produced 865 million carats over its lifetim...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Surat's bourse has seen business boom, as it picked up export trade from its closed counterpart in Mumbai.Half-year exports to October were up more than 700 per cent to $832m said the Surat Hira Bourse (SHB), the city's only customs clearance centre for diamond, jewelry, gold and other precious cargo.By comparison total export for the financial year 2019-20 were $190m.Mum...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong slid in September, even as the slowdown in the market began to ease.Revenue from watches, clocks and other valuable gifts fell 26% year on year to HKD 2.74 billion ($352.8 million) for the month. While the drop was significant, it was less sharp than the declines seen in the past few months, and could indicate the beginning of a rebo...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Belgian diamond industry is mourning the death of Jacques "Jacky" Korn, a former president of the Antwerp Diamond Bourse and a veteran of the trade.Korn previously served as the vice president of the Federation of Belgian Diamond Bourses and the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). He died on Sunday, the Antwerp Diamond Bourse said in a note to members the same day. On Monday,...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers is allowing customers to defer purchases of smaller rough at this week's sight, as reduced manufacturing capacity in India has slashed demand.Sightholders can refuse to buy fancies, makeables and sawables up to 0.75 carats, and instead make the purchases before the end of the first quarter of 2021, market insiders told Rapaport News Monday. De Beers is also letting custom...Read More
Diamond prices kept rising in October, as the IDEX Polished Diamond Price Index recorded a third consecutive month of increase. This follows an overall decline since mid-2018 and a dip during the first wave of coronavirus in March and April. The four-year graph below is a good indicator of the overall direction of travel, even though, as we'll see later, the Index was up only fractionally in...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The diamond pipeline has reverted, for the first time in almost a century, to one that is truly driven by demand, say industry experts Pranay Narvekar and Chaim Even-Zohar.Rough suppliers no longer set the price and this is a welcome development, they say in The 2019 Pipeline - Prelude to the Storm, an authoritative analysis of the state of the industry, available online from this...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto will dig the last diamonds up from the ground at its Argyle deposit in Australia on Tuesday, marking the end of an era in the industry. The company will continue to sift through ore at the adjacent processing plant until December, and will hold the final rough sale at the end of that month, a company spokesperson told Rapaport News Monday. Rio Tinto first began operation...Read More
RAPAPORT... A group of industry members has formed the Black in Jewelry Coalition (BIJC) to help Black professionals gain access to the resources and opportunities they need to succeed in the trade.The coalition's board of directors is composed entirely of Black industry professionals. It will be open to Black members along the entire industry pipeline, including corporate, trade, jewelry design,...Read More
RAPAPORT... The proportion of consumers who have heard about lab-grown diamonds has risen to 80% in 2020, up from 58% two years ago, an MVI Marketing survey found.Meanwhile, 69% of shoppers knew of specific brands that use lab-grown diamonds, compared to 49% in 2018. "Lab-grown diamond is a high-margin category that consumers are reacting to positively," MVI CEO Marty Hurwitz said last week. "Now...Read More
RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Mines has asked a Canadian court to prevent Rio Tinto from selling its portion of rough diamonds from the Diavik joint venture, calling the sale unfair and unreasonable.Rio Tinto-owned Diavik Diamond Mines, Inc.'s (DDMI) proposed sales plan would not assure maximum value from the rough, given it sells via long-term contracts, which generally offer buyers discounts, Dom...Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong's diamond trade continued to decline in the third quarter, though the downturn was gentler than during the first half of the year. Polished imports fell 32% year on year to $2.69 billion in the three months ending September 30, compared with 54% in the first quarter and 45% in the second, according to calculations based on recent data from the Diamond Federation of Hong...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company's output rose in the third quarter as higher ore grades at its Lulo mine compensated for a temporary shutdown of the Angola site.Production from the deposit increased 23% to 9,387 carats during the three months ending September 30, a record quarterly total for the company, despite a pause in operations resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, it said last week. T...Read More
RAPAPORT... Titan Company, India's largest jewelry retailer, gave an optimistic outlook for the upcoming Diwali holiday season after resurgent gold demand boosted revenue during the second fiscal quarter.Consumer sentiment improved in the three months ending September 30 as India's Covid-19 restrictions eased and stores reopened, Titan reported last week. The sales decline was gentler than in...Read More
(IDEX Online) - October saw a blitz of price rises among smaller fancies (0.23-0.44cts) and some positive movement among 0.45-0.69cts. After a quiet September there was more movement overall, characterized by a rise in demand for these smaller, less costly stones. The economy has started its recovery, but there's still less of an appetite for larger diamonds.HIGHLIGHTSRounds0.3...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A British "green" millionaire is poised to produce the world's first "zero-impact diamonds".Dale Vince says his Sky Diamonds company will capture carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere to produce 200 carats of environmentally-friendly CVD (carbon vapor deposition) lab-growns a month, scaling up to 1,000 next year.He'll use wind and solar electricity, and water collec...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Insurers Jewelers Mutual is set to acquire Wexler Insurance Agency, one of the world's largest privately-owned independent insurance agencies for the jewelry trade. The move will bring together two of the most recognized names in the USA's jewelry insurance industry Jewelers Mutual Group announced on Friday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire We...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Indian diamond industry has urged the government to cut taxes and lift red tape ahead of the country's annual Union Budget, arguing that exports could double under the right conditions.The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has called for import duty on polished stones to drop to 2.5% from the current 7.5%, it said Thursday. The council also wants India to pe...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelers Mutual Group has agreed to acquire Wexler Insurance Agency/IJB, a specialist in risk management for the jewelry industry."Combining Wexler's unique products, services and carrier alliances with the investments in data and technology being made by Jewelers Mutual will create a competitive advantage that will expand our footprint and diversify our operational profile," said...Read More