RAPAPORT... Alrosa will not hold a rough trading session in October in an effort to avoid releasing too many goods during a fragile recovery in the diamond market. The Russian miner will combine its October and November sales, it said Thursday. "This will help to support a nascent supply-demand balance by servicing only real demand from the clients, as uncertainty persists, thus avoiding a ri...Read More
Rising expectations for US holiday season. Retailers beginning early promotions and planning for longer 4Q selling period to avoid overcrowding among last-minute shoppers. Shortages supporting polished prices after manufacturing down by estimated 50% in 2020. Large volume of new polished expected to become available before year's end following strong 3Q rough buying. De Beers Sep. sales +57% to $4...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamond industry veteran Chaim Pluczenik has been elected president of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).He pledged to do all he can to help Antwerp recover from the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.Mr Pluczenik takes over from Nishit Parikh, who retired after two years in office without seeking re-election.AWDC represents Belgium's diamond sector and offer...Read More
RAPAPORT... Star Diamond Corporation may end its partnership with Rio Tinto, stating it believes the Australian mining giant is responsible for the unnecessary breakage of large diamonds.Rio Tinto recovered 3,005 diamonds weighing a total of 131.82 carats from its most recent bulk sampling at the Star-Orion South project in Saskatchewan, Star Diamond said Wednesday. Those included 2.69-, 2.03- and...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co has launched a highly personal attack on LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, citing his reputation for a "ruthless approach to acquisitions".The New York-based jeweler is still smarting after the French luxury conglomerate dramatically pulled out of its $16.2bn acquisition last month, blaming the threat of US trade tariffs.Tiffany hit back with a legal attempt to force thro...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has launched its new grading reports for lab-grown diamonds, offering an updated look and format.The new documents, branded "LGDR by GIA," come in digital-only form and use specific color and clarity scores rather than the descriptive terms and ranges that appeared in its previous reports, the organization said Tuesday."The evolution of G...Read More
RAPAPORT... Diamond resources at Lucapa Diamond Company's Mothae mine in Lesotho are 280% higher than it originally estimated, it said Thursday.The increase is due to the new commercial processing plant the miner has installed at the deposit, noted Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall. The company has raised its assessment of the volume of indicated diamonds - those known based on drilled ar...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. has witnessed a rebound in its operations during the third fiscal quarter, driven by growth in e-commerce sales and a strong recovery in China, the jeweler said Thursday.Operating earnings grew 25% year on year during August and September, although group sales declined slightly, the New York-based jeweler reported in an unscheduled update for the period. "While w...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's polished-diamond exports declined 20% in September - a more moderate fall than the country had experienced in previous months. Rough imports rose 16% as De Beers and Alrosa started selling in large quantities again.India Trade Data for September 2020 Read More
(IDEX Online) - A British jeweler is being sued over the loss of a $40,000 fancy yellow diamond that fell out of a ring he sold.Philip Lloyd Jewellers, in West Sussex, was accused of failing to secure the stone with reasonable care and skill during a court hearing on Tuesday.Insurance broker Mark Hare, 58, bought the gem as a Christmas gift for his then-girlfriend Olivia Claffey in 2017.She notice...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jewelers for Children will distribute $475,000 to its charity partners this year, bringing its total donations to $57.3 million since the organization began in 1999."Serving as board chair through this very challenging year has truly shown me just how beloved Jewelers for Children is in our great industry," Debra Puzio, the chair of Jewelers for Children's board, said Tuesday. "Th...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers has registered its highest sales total since January as rough demand improved ahead of the fourth-quarter holiday season.The company sold $467 million of rough during its September sales cycle, the eighth of the year - a 57% rise compared with the same period last year, it reported Wednesday. Sales rose 40% versus the seventh cycle.The miner reduced prices of smaller good...Read More
RAPAPORT... Australian jeweler Michael Hill reported an improvement in same-store sales during the first fiscal quarter amid a rise in online shopping and an increased desire for branded jewelry.Same-store sales - at branches open more than a year - rose 7% to AUD 116.7 million ($83.7 million) during the three months ending September 27, the company said Tuesday. Group sales slipped 3.6% to AUD 11...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers today reported $467m sales from its September Sight, further fueling hopes of a sustained recovery from the global pandemic.The provisional figure for cycle 8 is a 36 per cent year-on-year increase compared with the same month last year.It also indicates a significant upwards trend overall as demand returns. By comparison, actual sales for Cycle 7 (August) were $334m; Cycl...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Indian jewelry chain Tanishq has withdrawn an advert depicting a Muslim-Hindu baby shower after a furious backlash on social media. Critics claimed it glorified what Hindu extremists have labeled "love jihad" - the alleged campaign by Muslim men to seduce and convert Hindu women - and launched a vicious "trolling" campaign online.The 45-second was p...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa boss Sergei Ivanov has told Russia's President Vladimir Putin he's "confident" of a deal to sell millions of carats of rough to the government's Gokhran - its precious metals and gems repository.Such an arrangement would provide a lifeline for the miner, which is only now recovering from months of dismal sales as a result of the global pandemic.The Alrosa CEO...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Diamonds discovered at a gold deposit in Canada hint at a large and untapped reserve, say researchers.They are in sediments that are "an exact analog" of those in South Africa's famous Witwatersrand Goldfields, replicating the extremely rare combination of gold and diamonds in the same place.Experts from the University of Alberta were astonished by the find at outcrop at Nunav...Read More
RAPAPORT... US polished-diamond imports dropped 39% year on year to $821 million in August, reflecting lower volumes and price per carat, according to data from the Commerce Department. The decline was gentler than the 50% drop the country recorded in July, but steeper than June's 35% slowdown. US Trade Data for August 2020Read More
RAPAPORT... Hong Kong-based jeweler Tse Sui Luen (TSL) expects to incur a net loss of at least HKD 40 million ($5.2 million) for the first fiscal half as the Covid-19 pandemic depressed the company's sales.The loss for the six months ending September 30 compares with a net profit of HKD 1.6 million ($206,454) in the same period last year, the retailer said last week. "The implementation of so...Read More
RAPAPORT... The days when brands made all their business decisions on their own are gone. With bigger competition, tougher economic challenges, and the increasingly scary potential of coming across as tone deaf in marketing campaigns, getting advice just makes sense. And who better to provide it than members of your target audience?Having the input of a client advisory board "is so useful because...Read More