RAPAPORT... Israel's diamond shipments slumped in October as religious holidays compounded the negative impact of geopolitical and economic trends.Polished exports fell 24% year on year to $432.8 million for the month, after returns of unsold goods, the Economy and Industry Ministry reported Sunday. Export volume dropped 31% to 109,512 carats, with the average price up 9% at $3,952 per carat,...Read More
RAPAPORT... The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will become chair of the Kimberley Process (KP) in 2024, trade leaders in Dubai announced following the organization's plenary meeting.The UAE will assume the role of vice chair for 2023 and take the helm the following year, in line with KP procedures, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) said Sunday. The KP, which aims to keep conflict diamonds...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The growth in sales of US jewelry and watches in September hit its lowest level since the Covid lockdowns of 2020. It was down to just 1.3 per cent. The figure for August, originally given as 3.7 per cent, has now been revised down, based on actual rather than estimated sales to 3.0 per cent. This paints a grim picture. The last time sales growth reached a low p...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The IDEX Polished Price Index continued its near-straight line decline for a seventh consecutive month in October. It fell by 1.86 per cent, slightly less than September's 2.34 per cent, but still the second biggest drop since April. The Index started falling early in March. It was down 2.1 per cent in April, 0.69 per cent in May, 1.18 per cent in June and 2.05...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 8 points in pre-opening trade.DoorDash gained $1.36 to 52.93 after Oppenheimer raised its rating from Perform to Outperform. Apple dropped $2.39 to $135.99 after announcing a reduction in iPhone 14 shipments.First Solar added $0.95 to $154.57 after Raymond James raised its target price from $145 to $175.Meta Platform a...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers is working on a new testing machine for screening some of the tiniest melee diamonds, claiming the move will help the industry spot synthetic stones more efficiently.The new instrument will enable fast and automated verification of up to 3,600 stones per hour in the 0.001- to 0.0033-carat (0.6- to 1-millimeter) range, the miner said Friday. The equipment, part of the comp...Read More
RAPAPORT... Titan Company's sales and profit jumped in the second fiscal quarter as the Indian retailer benefited from solid festive demand. Revenue - including at subsidiaries - climbed 22% year on year to INR 92.24 billion ($1.11 billion) for the three months ending September 30, the company reported last week. The jeweler registered a profit of INR 8.35 billion ($100.9 million), a 30% incr...Read More
RAPAPORT... De Beers has hired Antoine Borde as CEO of its Lightbox lab-grown diamond brand. He will succeed Steve Coe, who left the company in July.Borde was most recently global e-commerce vice president at French multinational food-products corporation Danone Group. He also worked at Coty Luxury, where he led e-commerce and digital transformation, and spent 12 years at cosmetics giant L'Or?(C)a...Read More
RAPAPORT... US holiday spending is set to top last year's record figure, as consumers dip into their savings and rely on credit to provide gifts for loved ones, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has forecast.Retail sales in November and December will grow between 6% and 8% year on year, for a total of $942.6 billion to $960.4 billion, the organization predicted last week. The average increase o...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A criminal case is to be opened in South Africa against Jagersfontein Developments over the dam burst tragedy in September that killed at least two people and devastated a town.The Department of Water and Sanitation says that in addition to the criminal case it is implementing administrative enforcement measures against the company, owned by Dubai-based Stargems. It alle...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A huge collection of over 100 Australian pink diamonds, many from the iconic Argyle mine, collected over three decades by New York based LJ West Diamonds, is now on display at Melbourne Museum, Australia.It's described by organizers as "the largest collection of Australian pink diamonds to be shown in the world".Among the gems on display is the 2.83 carat Argyle Violet, the on...Read More
(IDEX Online) - De Beers is launching a new diamond verification instrument, which it says is capable of automatically screening large volumes of melee at speed, and identifying rogue lab growns.Through its innovation arm, Ignite, it has developed technology to verify 3,600 diamonds per hour in the 0.001 carat to 0.0033 carat (0.6 to 1.0mm) size range.It says the new instrument, available early ne...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 10 points in pre-opening trade.S&P 500 futures eased 12 points following release of the U.S. October Employment report at 8:30 AM EDT. October U.S. Non-farm Payrolls was expected to drop to 200,000 from 263,000 in September. Actual was 261,000. October Unemployment Rate was expected to increase to 3.6% from 3.5% in...Read More
News: Diamond trade uncertain as polished prices decline. 1 ct. RAPI -3.6% in Nov. Midstream inventory high due to weak demand after bullish 1H manufacturing. Surat factories closed for Diwali. De Beers eases buyer terms and keeps prices stable at Nov. sight. Boxes offered at deep discounts on secondary market. Let??eng 3Q average price +28% to $2,028/ct. Lucara Diamond 3Q sales -36% to $47M. Ris...Read More
RAPAPORT... Gemfields will sell a cluster containing 187,775 carats of emeralds at an upcoming rough tender, expecting it to garner a company record price for a single emerald piece.The miner recovered the Kafubu Cluster in March 2020, it said Wednesday. It is named for the river that forms the natural boundary of its Kagem emerald mine in Zambia. The mass contains only a very small amount of ore...Read More
RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp.'s sales dropped in the third quarter as the company supplied fewer large and expensive stones from its lucrative Karowe mine in Botswana.Revenue fell 31% year on year to $49.9 million, while net profit slumped 86% to $1.8 million, Lucara reported Wednesday.Sales of rough from Karowe declined 36% to $46.5 million, with volume down 15% at 99,301 carats and the a...Read More
RAPAPORT... Revenue at Gem Diamonds rose 20% year on year to $56.6 million in the third quarter, reflecting solid pricing and an increase in sales of high-value stones."Tenders in Antwerp, together with a Dubai tender viewing in September 2022, were well attended and contributed positively to the prices achieved during the period," the operator of the lucrative Let??eng mine in Lesotho said W...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Debswana's rough diamond sales rose by 37.5 per cent in the first nine months of this year, according to the Bank of Botswana. The 50-50 partnership between De Beers and the Botswana government sold $3.578 billion, an increase from $2.602 billion, as demand remained steady.Diamond revenue accounts for a fifth of Botswana's GDP and 70 per cent of its foreign revenue.T...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A colossal emerald cluster, weighing 187,775 carats (37,555-grams) is to be sold later this month by Gemfields.The UK-based miner says the so-called Kafubu Cluster could well be the most expensive single emerald piece it has ever sold.It was discovered at the Kagem emerald mine in Lufwanyama, Zambia, in March 2020. Gemfields has a 75 per cent stake in the mine and the Zambian gover...Read More
(IDEX Online) - The Kimberley Process is expected to go ahead with discussions on re-defining conflict diamonds for the first time since it was founded almost 20 years ago."We were unable to reach consensus in the previous Review and Reform cycle about how it may be possible to reference violations of human rights in the conflict diamonds definition," the WDC president Edward Asscher said on Tuesd...Read More