RAPAPORT... Israel's diamond exports saw a rare decline in July amid a slowdown in the global market.Polished shipments out of the country - after returns of unsold goods - fell 7% year on year to $296.6 million for the month, the Ministry of Economy and Industry reported last week. The volume of exports dropped 12% to 131,799 carats, and the average price increased 6% to $2,251 per carat. Wh...Read More
RAPAPORT... Mountain Province's net profit rose 1% year on year to CAD 22.6 million ($17.6 million) in the second quarter as the global diamond market rebounded and rough prices firmed.Sales jumped 30% to CAD 97.8 million ($76 million), the Canadian miner reported Tuesday. The company registered an average selling price of $130 per carat for the three months, 78% higher than a year earlier. T...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Staff at jewelry stores in Auckland, New Zealand, have been targeted in a series of brutal raids in recent weeks.A worker is receiving counselling for the trauma, and one owner has closed their store as a result, according to the Stuff news website.Video from one raid (see pic) shows perpetrators running to their getaway car in broad daylight. One of them, armed with a ha...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp.'s profit more than doubled year on year in the second quarter amid strong demand and a higher proportion of proceeds coming from the sale of polished diamonds through its supply contract.Net profit reached $12.5 million for the three months ending June 30, compared with $6 million the year before. Revenue jumped 13% to $52.3 million, the company said Wednesday. Whi...Read More
(IDEX Onlie) - Lucara says profits more than doubled for the last quarter, up from $6m to $12.5m as the strength of the market outweighed economic uncertainties.The Canada-based miner reported a 13 per cent increase in revenue for the three months ending 30 June, up from $46.3m to $52.3m (figures are US dollars).It said strong rough and polished diamond market fundamentals were continuing, despite...Read More
News: Diamond market cautious amid China slowdown and US economic uncertainty. Polished prices declining. Inventory remains high. IIJS show reflects upbeat Indian jewelry market and spurs optimism for Diwali. Cutters maintaining lower production and anticipate strong demand for De Beers rough at next week's sight. Speculation that large manufacturers able to purchase Alrosa rough through non-doll...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A necklace set with 35 green jadeite beads and 7.70-cts of white diamonds sold for $2.3m at Sotheby's Hong Kong.It was the top seller in an Important Jewels auction that realized a total of $18.1m.Jadeite, a more valuable form of jade, is among the priciest of gemstones, and can be more expensive than diamonds.In 2014, a jadeite bead necklace that belonged to Woolworth he...Read More
RAPAPORT... US e-commerce spending rose in July as Amazon Prime Day drove record online sales, according to Adobe Analytics.Shoppers shelled out $73.7 billion online during the month, up 21% compared to the same month in 2021. However, that figure is 1% lower than June's $74.1 total and 6% less than the $78.8 million spent in May, Adobe said Tuesday. Prime Day - which historically fuels higher lev...Read More
RAPAPORT... Pritesh Patel, chief operating officer at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), explains the organization's digital strategy in this episode of the Rapaport Diamond Podcast. In a conversation with Rapaport's Avi Krawitz, Patel discusses the GIA's move toward paperless reports, its use of artificial intelligence, the launch of its source-verification service and its general a...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The State Bank of India (SBI) is to start lending to manufacturers of lab grown diamonds.The move, by the country's largest private lender, is widely seen as boost to an emerging sector. India produces 15 per cent of the world's lab growns, but has been calling on the government to invest and help it grow into $5.1bn-a-year industry.The government-owned SBI has formalized...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province saw profits almost static (up by less than one per cent) during the last quarter as higher per-carat prices made up for a steep fall in sales volume.The Canada-based miner said carats sold during the three months ending 30 June were down 18 per cent, year-on-year, but the average price per carat leapt from $82 to $131, (figures are US dollars) an increase of almos...Read More
(IDEX Online) - India's gem and jewelry trade faces a major "round tripping" probe after it emerged that documented imports of pearls exceeded global production by as much as 10 times.The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) suspects fraud on a massive scale.It reports evidence of round tripping, when companies sell and buy back the same assets in to artificially increase their...Read More
The Texas-based producer of lab-created diamonds explains its new supply deal with HRA Group.RAPAPORT... Long-term supply deals for lab-grown diamonds are coming in thick and fast. Trade buyers want to lock in the best goods, and only a limited number of producers can grow high-quality material, as industry consultant Marty Hurwitz told Rapaport Magazine earlier this year."There are more and...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The growth in US sales of jewelry and watches in June dropped to its lowest level in two years, barely above zero at 0.8 per cent (and too small to register on the graph below).Think back just over a year to April 2021, when year-on-year growth was an unprecedented 218 per cent. And to the previous April when it was minus 54 per cent.June 2022 was the month when the US annual infla...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Sarine reported a 13 per cent drop in first-half earnings, under "challenging conditions", notably the ongoing war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions on Russia.The diamond tech company said group revenue had declined from $36.0m in H1 2021 to $31.2m. "Geopolitical developments, primarily the war in Ukraine and an increasingly inflationary economic environment, along with ongoi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Signet today said it had signed a deal to buy the online jeweler Blue Nile in a $360m all-cash deal.Signet, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, said it was a strategic acquisition that would "accelerate efforts to expand its bridal offerings and grow its Accessible Luxury portfolio."Blue Nile claims to have over 650,00 diamonds available for sale, and says it has...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies' revenue and earnings fell in the first half of 2022 as market pressures around the world dented demand for the company's manufacturing equipment.Sales dropped 13% year on year to $13.2 million, the Israeli-based company reported Monday. Profit slumped 48% to $6.5 million.Sarine, which supplies machinery to the diamond-manufacturing industry, saw a 30% drop in...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Indian manufacturers have started cutting and polishing in Botswana, lured by a ready supply of locally-mined rough.Botswana, the world's second biggest diamond producing nation and home to De Beers' 10 annual sights, expects investment in return, according to The Times of India, as well as training and employment opportunities, "Around 20 units have been set up in B...Read More
RAPAPORT... Signet Jewelers has signed a deal to acquire online retailer Blue Nile for $360 million in cash.The purchase will boost Signet's bridal, "accessible luxury" and digital businesses, while expanding the group's consumer base, the US retail chain said Tuesday. The company expects to complete the transaction in the third fiscal quarter, which runs until late October. Either side can p...Read More
RAPAPORT... Indian jeweler Titan Company's sales and profit soared in the first fiscal quarter, buoyed by strong holiday demand and a gap between two periods of Covid-19 disruptions.Revenue - including at subsidiaries - surged to INR 94.87 billion ($1.19 billion) for the three months ending June 30, compared with INR 35.19 billion ($442.4 million) during the same period a year ago, the company rep...Read More