RAPAPORT PRESS RELEASE, September 1, 2020, Las Vegas... Diamond markets improved in August as governments eased Covid-19 restrictions and dealers sought to fill specific orders from jewelers. Indian manufacturers increased polished production to fill shortages in certain categories. Polished prices firmed. The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds rose 3.2% in August. It has fallen...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has unearthed a high-quality, 233-carat, type II diamond from its Let??eng mine in Lesotho, the company said TuesdayThe discovery is the fifth rough stone over 100 carats that Let??eng has yielded this year, according to Rapaport records. It follows that of a 442-carat, type II diamond that was recovered on August 23, the company said Tuesday. That stone is one of the larg...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The GIA could close its Antwerp lab with the loss of 51 jobs in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.Trades union bosses fear the premises in the Belgian city could become nothing more than a drop-off point for stones to be sent abroad."Apparently, over the past few months, they immediately forwarded incoming diamonds to the United States," Yves Toutenel, of ACV Transcom told the Provi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co has reported encouraging signs of a recovery, with a rise in monthly worldwide net sales from May to July, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Retail sales in mainland China picked up in April and increased about 90 per cent in May, said the luxury jeweler in an earnings statement, and online sales more than doubled. "Increased sales in mainland China and global...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Ultra-rare pink diamonds from the soon-to-close Argyle mine are expected to fetch $750,000 at auction in Australia.Rio Tinto's closure of the famed deposit in in Western Australia after 37 years is likely to boost demand and prices."This pink diamond is beyond rare and is in extremely high demand world-wide so we feel very privileged to see one a year but to have a few in the...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Troubled Petra Diamonds has yet to receive any offers from potential buyers as its debts mounts and revenue slumps.The UK-listed miner launched a formal sales process in June to sell the company either as a whole or in parts.Petra, founded by Adonis Pouroulis in 1997, bought the famous Cullinan mine, in South Africa, and other deposits deemed unprofitable by De Beers, including the...Read More
RAPAPORT... The organizers of Swiss gem and jewelry show GemGen??ve have canceled this year's event as travel restrictions and health precautions have made it too challenging.The coronavirus "has made it impossible for GemGen??ve to be the interactive experience that we intend it to be," the group said Sunday.GemGen??ve will fully reimburse all exhibitors who signed up for the fair, which was due...Read More
RAPAPORT... The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has named Kim Pelletier as CEO of its Get Diamonds trading platform, it said Monday.Pelletier is a former vice president for sales and marketing at diamond-trading site Polygon. She was most recently president of IGC Jewelry & Diamonds, has served as vice president of Hearts On Fire, Memoire and John Hardy, and was a field directo...Read More
RAPAPORT... The first Christie's online auction dedicated solely to diamonds achieved $1.5 million, with a Graff necklace coming in as the top lot.The piece features a detachable pendant with a pear brilliant-cut, 20.21-carat, fancy-deep-yellow-brown, VS1-clarity diamond and 47.29 carats of white diamonds. It brought in $325,000, falling within its presale estimate range, Christie's announced last...Read More
RAPAPORT... Jeweler Chow Sang Sang will open more than 40 new stores in China by the end of the year, while closing a number of locations in Hong Kong."Despite all the uncertainties brought on by the pandemic and geopolitical strife, we are optimistic about the China market with its huge middle class," the Hong-Kong based company said last week. As such, "we will continue to build our store networ...Read More
RAPAPORT... Belgium's diamond shipments continued to fall in July, but the rate of decline slowed as markets reopened following coronavirus shutdowns. The country's polished exports dropped 35% year on year for the month, compared with a 44% slump in June, according to recent data from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). Belgium trade data for July 2020Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) plans to close or heavily scale back its Antwerp operations following a review of its business in the Belgian city."Based on global and local market conditions and activity, and the impact of the global pandemic, the GIA conducted an evaluation of the long-term viability of GIA Belgium," a spokesperson for the organization told Rapaport N...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa has reportedly followed De Beers by discounting rough prices in response to the coronavirus slump in demand.Last week De Beers was reported to have lowered the price of larger stones at Sight 7 by as much as 10 per cent.Both miners have held firm with sales-over-volume policies until now, despite smaller rivals offering discounts of up to 25 per cent. De Beers and...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Fears that online diamond trading in India would be hit by the country's new e-commerce tax have been allayed.The two per cent levy introduced in April applies to consumer sales only, not B2B transactions, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman (pictured) told trade bodies.The clarification came after she met a delegation from the GJEPC (Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Counci...Read More
RAPAPORT... The first Christie's online auction dedicated solely to diamonds achieved $1.5 million, with a Graff necklace coming in as the top lot.The piece features a detachable pendant with a pear brilliant-cut, 20.21-carat, fancy-deep-yellow-brown, VS1-clarity diamond and 47.29 carats of white diamonds. It brought in $325,000, falling within its presale estimate range, Christie's announced last...Read More
(IDEX Online) - French luxury conglomerate LVMH has delayed its $16.2bn acquisition of US jeweler Tiffany & Co, following speculation that it was seeking a price reduction.The deal should have been concluded on 24 August, but both sides are understood to have agreed a proviso that the absolute deadline could be pushed back to 24 November.LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault (pictured) reported...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The diamond industry must re-invent its supply chain and move on from traditional Sights and tenders in favor of new technology, says Lucara boss Eira Thomas.The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting travel bans have highlighted the need for paradigm shift, she argues in an open letter release yesterday."We can no longer harken back to a past era and unwisely cling to processes that have...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) will debut its holiday advertising campaign next month, featuring an as-yet-unnamed Hollywood celebrity as the new face of diamonds. "The campaign celebrates the many emotional connections created by diamond jewelry, something that research shows will resonate strongly as we emerge from the crisis," NDC CEO David Kellie said Wednesday in a letter to in...Read More
RAPAPORT... Rough trading does not incur India's new e-commerce tax, the country's Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) confirmed after meeting with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.India introduced the equalization levy on April 1 for all overseas e-commerce operators. The minister explained that the new tax applied only to digital consumer sales and not business-to-business...Read More
RAPAPORT... Tiffany & Co. reported a sharp decline in profit in the second fiscal quarter but noted sales have returned to pre-pandemic levels in August."Our global sales trends have strengthened in August, with preliminary month-to-date worldwide sales through August 25 being slightly positive as compared to the same month-to-date period in the prior year," said CEO Alessandro Bogliolo i...Read More