Positive Step to a $100m Natural Diamond Campaign

Key players have taken “a very important step in the right direction” to raising $100m for the long-term promotion of natural diamonds, according to Yoram Dvash, president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB).

He also said he was cautiously optimistic for the holiday season as prices had started to stabilize globally, inventories were reducing and De Beers and the World Diamond Council (WDC) had embarked on multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns.

Dvash (pictured) said trade bodies had reacted very positively o his call for a $100m marketing campaign after what he described as a “brainstorming session” at the Dubai Diamond Conference earlier this month.

The Antwerp World Diamond Council (AWDC) and India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), had agreed to start looking into funding campaigns by the Natural Diamond Council, he said, in collaboration with the WFDB, IDMA (International Diamond Manufacturers Association) and CIBJO (World Jewellery Confederation). More trade bodies are expected to follow suit.

Dvash said he’d called for the industry to unite behind a major and sustained marketing campaign over the next five years to create demand for natural diamonds some weeks ago, and had been pleased by their response.

“It seems that we have found the golden formula that would enable the industry to raise $100m for generic advertising of natural diamonds,” he said.

Earlier this month he said there hadn’t been a major generic marketing campaign for natural diamonds for almost 20 years, when De Beers halted its “A Diamond is Forever” promotion.

“An entire generation of consumers has come of age without having been exposed to promotional campaigns with positive messages about natural diamonds,” he said in a letter to all the WFDB’s 29 member bourses.

Source: DCLA

It’s The Right Time to Buy Natural Color Diamonds

It’s a good time to buy natural color diamonds. “The recent price declines in the white goods created an overall negative psychological effect on all diamonds. This is probably the reason we also witnessed a decline of 0.1% in the Fancy Color Index in Q2,” said Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) advisory board member Eden Rachminov.

According to the FCRF, yellow diamonds displayed a decline of 0.8% vis-a-vis the 0.2% increase in the second quarter of 2018. The prices of yellow diamonds declined by 0.8% overall in this quarter, primarily influenced by the 1–3 cts. categories, with the sharpest downturn of 2.7% in the 1 ct. category.

Blue diamonds showed a 0.3% decrease in the second quarter of 2019 compared to a 1.5% increase in the same quarter in 2018. Blue diamond prices decreased overall by 0.3%, affected mainly by the decline of 0.9% in the weight category of 8–10 cts.

Only pink diamonds showed an upturn of 0.4% in the second quarter of 2019, compared to a 0.5% decrease in the same quarter in 2018. The pink category continued to outperform all other categories, showing an increase of 0.4%. All fancy vivid pinks rose by 1.3%, with fancy vivid pinks of 2 and 3 cts. showing a rise in the second quarter of 2019, increasing by 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively.

Despite the temporary psychological negative effect at the moment, the long-term price trend for natural color diamonds looks positive. According to research by Knight Frank, within the last 10 years, the price of colored diamonds went up by 85%, outperforming some “classical” luxury investment objects such as art and watches. “It’s definitely a good time to buy colored diamonds now,” says Rachminov.

One of the opportunities to buy is the upcoming True Colors auction by Alrosa, the worlds’ largest diamond miner. The diamonds will be available for viewing during the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair (Sept. 16–20). For the first time, the auction will be conducted via the Alrosa online platform diamonds.alrosa. The first True Colors auction was conducted in 2018. It finished with a total sale of 210 diamonds. The bidding was very active, and most of the lots were sold for well above their starting prices.

At this year’s auction, ALROSA is offering a comprehensive origin story for every stone for the first time. Thanks to ALROSA’s traceability programmes, the consumers can witness the diamonds’ fascinating journey from mine and market. “With a closed production cycle, the company can guarantee the origin of every polished diamond, especially since it has its own unique ID,” revealed the miner.

This year, the collection includes about 200 polished diamonds of various shapes and colors, and all have GIA certificates. Each of them is a masterpiece of diamond production created by skillful professionals who put hearts into their work, keep the traditions, and know what a real Russian cut is: Russian cut describes both the origin of the diamond and the location where it was cut.

Alrosa operates its own in-house cutting and polishing branch, Diamonds of Alrosa. Beginning in 2018, it concentrated on fancy colored and unique diamonds. Alrosa’s goal is to become the leader in the colored diamonds market. Being the largest miner, Alrosa expects to be the largest producer of colored diamonds by volume.

Source: DCLA

It’s The Right Time to Buy Natural Color Diamonds

It’s a good time to buy natural color diamonds. “The recent price declines in the white goods created an overall negative psychological effect on all diamonds. This is probably the reason we also witnessed a decline of 0.1% in the Fancy Color Index in Q2,” said Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) advisory board member Eden Rachminov.

According to the FCRF, yellow diamonds displayed a decline of 0.8% vis-a-vis the 0.2% increase in the second quarter of 2018. The prices of yellow diamonds declined by 0.8% overall in this quarter, primarily influenced by the 1–3 cts. categories, with the sharpest downturn of 2.7% in the 1 ct. category.

Blue diamonds showed a 0.3% decrease in the second quarter of 2019 compared to a 1.5% increase in the same quarter in 2018. Blue diamond prices decreased overall by 0.3%, affected mainly by the decline of 0.9% in the weight category of 8–10 cts.

Only pink diamonds showed an upturn of 0.4% in the second quarter of 2019, compared to a 0.5% decrease in the same quarter in 2018. The pink category continued to outperform all other categories, showing an increase of 0.4%. All fancy vivid pinks rose by 1.3%, with fancy vivid pinks of 2 and 3 cts. showing a rise in the second quarter of 2019, increasing by 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively.

Despite the temporary psychological negative effect at the moment, the long-term price trend for natural color diamonds looks positive. According to research by Knight Frank, within the last 10 years, the price of colored diamonds went up by 85%, outperforming some “classical” luxury investment objects such as art and watches. “It’s definitely a good time to buy colored diamonds now,” says Rachminov.

One of the opportunities to buy is the upcoming True Colors auction by Alrosa, the worlds’ largest diamond miner. The diamonds will be available for viewing during the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair (Sept. 16–20). For the first time, the auction will be conducted via the Alrosa online platform diamonds.alrosa. The first True Colors auction was conducted in 2018. It finished with a total sale of 210 diamonds. The bidding was very active, and most of the lots were sold for well above their starting prices.

At this year’s auction, ALROSA is offering a comprehensive origin story for every stone for the first time. Thanks to ALROSA’s traceability programmes, the consumers can witness the diamonds’ fascinating journey from mine and market. “With a closed production cycle, the company can guarantee the origin of every polished diamond, especially since it has its own unique ID,” revealed the miner.

This year, the collection includes about 200 polished diamonds of various shapes and colors, and all have GIA certificates. Each of them is a masterpiece of diamond production created by skillful professionals who put hearts into their work, keep the traditions, and know what a real Russian cut is: Russian cut describes both the origin of the diamond and the location where it was cut.

Alrosa operates its own in-house cutting and polishing branch, Diamonds of Alrosa. Beginning in 2018, it concentrated on fancy colored and unique diamonds. Alrosa’s goal is to become the leader in the colored diamonds market. Being the largest miner, Alrosa expects to be the largest producer of colored diamonds by volume.

Source: DCLA