RAPAPORT... India's diamond shipments declined heavily in March as the coronavirus crisis hit the US market. Polished exports slumped 48% to $960 million, while rough imports fell 65% to $293 million as Indian manufacturers demonstrated less demand. The country's total rough and polished trade fell 48% to $1.57 billion - the lowest monthly total since Rapaport records began in 2009.Exports of...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) has reopened its trading floor following a two-month nationwide lockdown due to the pandemic.The hall will operate under a new format to comply with government health-and-safety rules, the IDE said Sunday. The measures include a divided floor, with one area for polished trading and another for rough. The bourse has also put a limit on the number o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) yesterday re-opened for "new normal" activity after 11 weeks of closure due to COVID-19. The huge trading floor (pictured) has been divided into separate rough and polished areas, the number of traders has been cut, and tables have been divided by transparent partitions. Anyone on the floor is required to wear a mask, keep a two-metre...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Billionaire Robert Kraft has auctioned off a ring containing 283 diamonds - to mark his NFL team's Super Bowl astonishing comeback victory - for $1.025m.Proceeds will go to the All In Challenge charity, to feed the hungry during the COVID-19 pandemic.Kraft, 78, made his fortune in paper and packaging, and bought the New England Patriots American football club in 1994.He...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa has followed De Beers' example by announcing a significant cut to expected production this year, in response to COVID-19.The Russian state-owned miner's has revised down its 2020 forecast by as much as 17.6 per cent, from 34m carats to between 28m and 31m.Last month De Beers said it would reduce production this year from between 32m and 34m carats to between 25m an...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) has reopened its trading floor following a two-month nationwide lockdown due to the pandemic.The hall will operate under a new format to comply with government health-and-safety rules, the IDE said Sunday. The measures include a divided floor, with one area for polished trading and another for rough. The bourse has also put a limit on the number o...Read More
RAPAPORT... India's diamond shipments declined heavily in March as the coronavirus crisis hit the US market. Polished exports slumped 48% to $960 million, while rough imports fell 65% to $293 million as Indian manufacturers demonstrated less demand. The country's total rough and polished trade fell 48% to $1.57 billion - the lowest monthly total since Rapaport records began in 2009.Exports of...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has expanded its board and appointed seven trade members to represent different parts of the supply chain.New board members include Feriel Zerouki, RJC honorary treasurer and senior vice president of international relations and ethical initiatives for De Beers, as well as Matthew Kilgariff, the council's honorary secretary and director of co...Read More
RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Mines has agreed to an asset sale that would allow it to resume mining operations and avoid bankruptcy.The deal, which is subject to court approval, would provide an affiliate of the Washington Companies - which purchased Dominion for $1.2 billion in 2017 - with the right to acquire all of Dominion's assets for approximately $126 million. The affiliate would also...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa is set for its lowest annual rough-diamond production in at least a decade, after the Russian miner reduced its outlook by up to 6 million carats due to the weak market.The company now expects to produce 28 million to 31 million carats this year, compared with an earlier plan of around 34 million carats, it said Friday.It will achieve this by shutting mines containing lower...Read More
De Beers has been given permission for a long-term clean-up at the site of its ill-fated Snap Lake mine, in Canada. The company invested over $2.2bn in its first mining project outside Africa. Snap Lake (pictured) had an expected 15-year life when it opened in July 2008, but was closed seven-and-a-half years later, after a decline in diamond prices and ongoing water problems at...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Traders and merchants in India have been crowding outside private vaults to retrieve their diamonds, after lockdown rules were finally eased. Authorities in Surat, the cut-and-polish hub, have allowed factories and workshops to resume production with up to half their staff, providing they follow strict guidelines on sanitizing and social distancing. Security companies that operate...Read More
(IDEX Online) - One of the world's more unusual diamond mines - a dig-your-own family attraction in Arkansas, USA - has reopened after state lockdown rules were eased.Visitors pay $10 a day to sift the soil of a plowed field at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, and keep whatever they find.Diamonds were first discovered there in 1906 by a farmer who owned the 37...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A judge has ruled that the Rio Tinto subsidiary DDMI can temporarily withhold diamonds from its troubled joint venture partner Dominion. DDMI and Dominion have a 60/40 split ownership of the Diavik mine in Canada's Northwest Territories.But Dominion has been in creditor protection since April after closing its other mine, Ekati, also in Northwest Territories, because of C...Read More
Total sales of watches and jewelry in the USA plunged in March, compared with same month last year, down by 27.2 per cent. It is an unprecedented fall, driven by unprecedented events. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were reflected to some extent in February's year-on-year figure, which saw a slowdown, but still some positive growth (up 3.4 per cent).The disastrous figure for March is the...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Indian government has allowed diamond businesses in Surat to reopen with limited staff numbers following concerns the shutdown was causing an exodus of workers.Companies can now employ 50% of workers in factories and 33% in offices, Surat Diamond Association (SDA) president Babubhai Kathiriya told members in a note Wednesday, seen by Rapaport News. Previously, only eight diamo...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) has chosen Ann Arnold, chief strategy officer for Buyers Intelligence Group (BIG), to head its board of directors.Arnold, who was appointed at the company's April 30 board meeting, has volunteered with the JBT for nearly 12 years, and has previously served as vice chairman. She will succeed outgoing chair Mike Kaplan, the JBT said Wednesday.An ind...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's will hold its Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels auction in Geneva in June, its first live sale since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.The auction will be held in two parts, Sotheby's told Rapaport News Wednesday. The first portion, an online sale, will run from June 16 to 24, and will include jewelry from the 19th century through the present day, from jewelers suc...Read More
Diamond trading remains at historic lows due to reduced demand and continued lockdown in important US market. Service providers resume operations. GIA opens five global labs. Israel Diamond Exchange to unlock trading floor on May 24. Focus shifting to marketing strategies to stimulate recovery, with emphasis on digital channels. Diamonds as symbol of values and emotional connection to be central t...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swarovski has appointed Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert as its first creative director as part of the company's new business realignment.Engelbert, who has worked as a creative director, international editor and fashion consultant for luxury brands for more than 20 years, was already serving as a creative consultant for Swarovski's business-to-business (B2B) division, the crystal mak...Read More