RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto's rough-diamond production from its Diavik mine in Canada rose in the first quarter amid the recovery of higher-grade ore.Output climbed 18% year on year to 1 million carats for the three months ending March 31, the company said Tuesday. The miner saw improvements to the productivity of its processing plant, as well as greater ore availability and higher grades.The company ex...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 100.94-carat D-color IF diamond - the largest stone ever cut in Russia - is to be auctioned by Christie's Geneva with a high estimate of $18m.The "Spectacle" (pictured) was cut from a 207.29-carat rough stone unearthed in 2016 at the Zarnitsa kimberlite pipe in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) - Russia's first ever diamond mine. The Diamonds of Alrosa factory, Moscow,...Read More
RAPAPORT... Christie's will sell a 100.94-carat diamond at its upcoming Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva, where it expects the stone to fetch up to $18 million.The emerald-cut, D-color, internally flawless diamond, called the Spectacle, originated from a 207.29-carat rough Alrosa unearthed in 2016 at its Zarnitsa pipe in Yakutia, Christie's said Monday. Alrosa cut the stone at its polishi...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A ground-breaking jewelry ad that follows a young Indian boy as he transitions to a woman, with his family's support, has been widely praised.Milestones in her journey are accompanied by gifts of jewelry from the anklets and earrings she receives as a child to a joyous wedding ceremony.The one minute 40 second video, entitled Pure as Love, is a marked departure from traditiona...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province Diamonds reported a 13 per cent drop in Q1 sales, but said prices were almost back to pre-Covid levels and it could see a "path to a return to normalcy".The Canadian miner sold $42.7m, compared with $49.2m in the same quarter of 2020, which was largely unaffected by the pandemic.A total of 602,773 carats were sold during the quarter, for an average value of $71 pe...Read More
RAPAPORT... Belgium's polished-diamond exports jumped 40% year on year to $716 million in March, reaching the highest level since September 2019. Rough trading also grew sharply, according to data the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) released last week."Continuing on the trend of the final months of 2020, the first quarter of 2021 demonstrates Antwerp's resilience and its agility to remain...Read More
RAPAPORT... Luk Fook's same-store sales rose 30% in the fourth fiscal quarter amid the recovery of the Chinese economy following Covid-19 closures.In mainland China, same-store sales - at self-operated branches open for at least a year - leaped 93% year on year for the three months ending March 31, the jeweler said last week. The surge was due to a favorable comparison with the same period in 2020...Read More
RAPAPORT... The number of jewelry businesses operating in the US slipped slightly in the first quarter of 2021, a much smaller decrease than in previous periods, according to data from the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT).In total, the sector downsized 1.5% year on year to 24,095 companies, compared to a decline of 4.2% in the first quarter of 2020, the JBT reported last week. Of the businesses that...Read More
(IDEX Online) - A 2.17-carat fancy vivid purplish pink diamond fetched $3.5m at auction, well above its high estimate of $2.5m.It was the most expensive of a "Perfect Palette" of three colored diamonds that raised a total of $8.4m last week at Christie's New York April Magnificent Jewels.The pink diamond (pictured) was a cut-cornered square modified brilliant-cut stone, natural color, SI1 cla...Read More
RAPAPORT... Chow Tai Fook's sales surged in the fourth fiscal quarter amid the reopening of the greater China economy and a return of consumer demand.Retail sales soared 174% in mainland China in the three months ending March 31, while same-store sales - at branches open for at least year - jumped 141%, the jeweler reported last week. In Hong Kong and Macau, retail sales climbed 47%, while same-st...Read More
RAPAPORT... Production from Mountain Province's Gahcho Ku?(C) mine fell in the first quarter amid an unplanned shutdown of the deposit to limit the spread of Covid-19.Rough-diamond output at the Canadian mine fell 16% to 1.4 million carats for the three months ending March 31, as the site closed for 22 days after several employees tested positive for the coronavirus, Mountain Province said last we...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has prevailed in a trademark infringement suit against a lab that used a look-alike logo to ride off the GIA's success, the organization said. AIG Belgium, which operates as American International Gemological Laboratories and Antwerp International Gemological Laboratories, must immediately cease using "AIG" either alone or in conjunction with...Read More
(IDEX Online) - An Italian jeweler in lockdown sold a $360,000 diamond ring - via the messaging service WhatsApp.The buyer, a wealthy Swiss woman, agreed the sale after seeing the gem on video calls.The Genoa-based jeweler Gismondi 1754 sets great store by its history - 1754 is the year its founder, Giovan Battista Gismondi, was born.But chief executive Massimo Gismondi, a seventh-generation desce...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Manufacturers in Surat are struggling as diamond certificates are delayed by India's pandemic travel restrictions.They're being forced to wait for at least two months, rather than one in normal times, according to the Times of India.The delays are severely hampering cash flow, especially for smaller operations.Buyers increasingly insist on certificates because they'r...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa's sales jumped sharply in the first quarter as market activity rebounded across the diamond supply chain, the company said last week."Demand for rough diamonds remains sustainably strong, as cutters and polishers took steps to maintain adequate stocks during the downturn of 2020," the Russian miner explained. "Demand from end consumers of diamond jewelry continued growing a...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has asked customers to return a number of colored-diamond grading reports after suspecting that a treatment might have gone under the radar.The organization will reassess certain diamonds with "green or greenish" in the color grade, a spokesperson told Rapaport News last week. The recall applies to reports it issued between January and Ju...Read More
RAPAPORT... US retail sales rebounded strongly in March as consumers went out to spend the stimulus money they had received from the government, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said.Revenue rose 28% year on year and 10% versus February's total as consumer sentiment grew, according to data the US Census Bureau reported last week. Covid-19 vaccinations buoyed the economy and made it easier for...Read More
RAPAPORT... Sotheby's brought in $21 million from its Magnificent Jewels sale in New York, with a 41.50-carat diamond ring nabbing the top spot.The round, D-flawless diamond ring sold for $4.9 million, or $117,108 per carat, within its estimate, the auction house said last week. Four of the top 10 items - including this one - went to private Asian collectors..An emerald-cut, 10.20-carat emerald ri...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Alrosa reported a 28 per cent increase in year-on-year revenue for Q1 from rough and polished sales - up to $1.16bn.The figure was down five per cent on the previous quarter and comprised $1.126bn of rough and $33m of polished.In its quarterly operating results, the Russian state-owned miner said demand for diamond jewelry remained sustainably high at all the key markets.&nbs...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tiffany & Co has ended its "most consistent relationship with the public " by ditching its daily page-three ad in printed editions of The New York Times.The tradition dates back more than a century, to 1896.The iconic jeweler, newly-acquired by the French luxury conglomerate LVMH, will maintain a similar ad spend with the paper, says the fashion bible WWD, but will divert more...Read More