RAPAPORT... US retail sales rose in June, amid improved consumersentiment and a healthier economic outlook, according to the National RetailFederation (NRF). Total purchase value grew 2.3% year on year in June, withthe three-month moving average, which includes April, May and June sales, up3.7% over the same period a year ago. The moving average for the three monthsto May rose 3.3% over the y...Read More
RAPAPORT... Botswana Diamonds has raised the funds needed to continueoperations, and expects to hold its first sale by the fourth quarter. The company, which has struggled with challenges that hitits bottom line, had questioned itsability to continue as a going concern. It had previously recorded losses due to currency fluctuations, an impairment charge, and the cost of buying Alrosa out of a...Read More
RAPAPORT... Shares in Petra Diamonds slipped 6% in early trading Monday after the minerreported it would lower its production for fiscal 2020. The company expects to produce about 3.8 million carats inthe financial year ending June 2020, as opposed to 3.9 million caratsin fiscal 2019, it said Monday. While run-of-mine production is expected toremain flat, the decrease will come from lower pro...Read More
RAPAPORT... US retail sales rose in June, amid improved consumersentiment and a healthier economic outlook, according to the National RetailFederation (NRF). Total purchase value grew 2.3% year on year in June, withthe three-month moving average, which includes April, May and June sales, up3.7% over the same period a year ago. The moving average for the three monthsto May rose 3.3% over the y...Read More
RAPAPORT... Shares in Petra Diamonds slipped 6% in early trading Monday after the minerreported it would lower its production for fiscal 2020. The company expects to produce about 3.8 million carats inthe financial year ending June 2020, as opposed to 3.9 million caratsin fiscal 2019, it said Monday. While run-of-mine production is expected toremain flat, the decrease will come from lower pro...Read More
RAPAPORT... Botswana Diamonds has raised the funds needed to continueoperations, and expects to hold its first sale by the fourth quarter. The company, which has struggled with challenges that hitits bottom line, had questioned itsability to continue as a going concern. It had previously recorded losses due to currency fluctuations, an impairment charge, and the cost of buying Alrosa out of a...Read More
LSE-listed Petra Diamonds delivered solid results for the financial year ended June 30, despite a difficult market environment, while it continues its transition from a period of high capital investment to a steady-state operational phase, CE Richard Duffy said on Monday.“The focus in the short term is on driving efficiencies across the business through Project 2022 to provide a stable, cons...Read More
RAPAPORT... US retail sales rose in June, amid improved consumersentiment and a healthier economic outlook, according to the National RetailFederation (NRF). Total purchase value grew 2.3% year on year in June, withthe three-month moving average, which includes April, May and June sales, up3.7% over the same period a year ago. The moving average for the three monthsto May rose 3.3% over the y...Read More
RAPAPORT... Shares in Petra Diamonds slipped 6% in early trading Monday after the minerreported it would lower its production for fiscal 2020. The company expects to produce about 3.8 million carats inthe financial year ending June 2020, as opposed to 3.9 million caratsin fiscal 2019, it said Monday. While run-of-mine production is expected toremain flat, the decrease will come from lower pro...Read More
RAPAPORT... The US jewelry trade continued to contract in the secondquarter, but the rate of downsizing has slowed from the previous year, datafrom the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT) revealed. In the three months ending June 30, 185 jewelry businessesexited the market, a 21% drop versus the same period a year ago. Retailersconstituted 135 of those - 21% fewer than last year, while the number ofwhol...Read More
RAPAPORT... Production at Gahcho Ku?(C) dropped 10% year on yearto 1.7 million carats in the second quarter, as mining took place in a lower-grade portion of the deposit. "The grade variance year over year is mainly a function ofmining lower-grade-ore tonnes in [the second quarter of 2019] from Hearne andSWC kimberlites, in comparison to higher grades from the 5034 kimberlite in[the second quarter...Read More
RAPAPORT... Swiss watch exports fell 11% to CHF 1.74 billion ($1.77billion) in June, amid a continued downturn in Hong Kong tourism and protests in the municipality. "Hong Kong's performance slowed significantly. Recent events there undoubtedly played a part," theFederation of the Swiss Watch industry reported last week. Demonstrators in Hong Kong - the Swiss watch industry'ssecond-largest m...Read More
RAPAPORT... Botswana's largest rough diamond now has a name, following a public contest held by Lucara Diamond Corp. The company chose to call the 1,758-carat stone Sewel??, which means "rare find" in the local Setswana language. It was the winning entry from more than 22,000 submissions. "The largest diamond recovered in Botswana's history wasnamed by the people of Botswana this evening in...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) will no longerfund the city'sdiamond-research-technology center, asthe current market situation in the Belgian diamond industry worsens. "As a result of the high cost of labor in our country,almost the entirety of our diamond manufacturing has relocated abroad," AWDCspokeswoman Margaux Donckier said Friday. The AWDC established the Scientific an...Read More
The De Beers Group released its production results for the second quarter earlier this month, reporting that its rough diamond production was down 14 percent to 7,7 million carats recovered. Mine closures, lower grades and planned maintenance schedules affected many of De Beers mines. Production at the Debswana mine in Botswana fell 9 percent to 5.7 million carats due to a planned plant shut down...Read More
U.S. retail sales rose at a solid pace in June. This is good news as other economic drivers haven't performed that well. The US Commerce Department released new data last week, saying that retail sales had risen 0.4 percent in June - a fourth, uninterrupted monthly increase. Sales made by online retailers, grocery stores, home and garden stores and restaurants and bars all grewe. The numbers...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) will no longer provide financial backing to the city's diamond-technology unit, citing difficult conditions in the local industry. "As a result of the high cost of labor in our country,almost the entirety of our diamond manufacturing has relocated abroad," AWDCspokeswoman Margaux Donckier said Friday. The AWDC established the Scientific and Techn...Read More
"The report comes after rivals Burberry Group Plc and Swatch Group AG announced better-than-expected results, raising the bar for the sector. Richemont's watch brands have suffered from excess inventory, and the company has been buying back unsold products from the market since 2016. Richemont echoed Swatch in saying that protests in Hong Kong, the top export market for Swiss watches, weighed...Read More
Lucara Diamond Corp.announced that the winning submission for the naming of the 1,758 carat diamond. Meaning "rare find" in Setswana, the name Sewelo was selected from over 22,000 submissions in a contest open to all citizens of Botswana. The announcement was made during a gala event hosted by Lucara Botswana in the presence of His Excellency Dr. Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, President o...Read More
The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), the umbrella organization for the Antwerp diamond industry and trade, issued a statement today that it will halt its financial contribution to The Scientific and Technical Research Center for Diamond (WTOCD). "[The WTOCD] can no longer count on the (unrestricted) financial support from the AWDC. The current market situation has led us to take this decision,...Read More