De Beers Cuts Prices of Cheaper Rough

De Beers significantly reduced prices of lower-quality rough diamonds at this week’s sight in response to a slowdown in the Indian manufacturing sector, dealers reported.

Prices fell by high-single-digit percentages versus the previous sale, sightholders told Rapaport News Tuesday. The drops were for rough costing $100 per carat or less, including both small and large stones that produce polished with low color and clarity.

Those segments of the Indian manufacturing market have suffered most from the depreciation of the rupee and tighter bank lending to the trade in recent months. De Beers’ move also reflects the seasonal weakness due to the Diwali festival, when many companies close their factories for two weeks or longer.

“There were a few corrections to align prices with the markets,” a broker said. “It was nothing earth-shattering — what [De Beers] did was sensible given the time of year.” The miner scheduled the drop to ensure manufacturers returned from Diwali to a market with lower rough prices and therefore stronger profit margins, the broker added.
De Beers mostly maintained prices for higher-value rough as demand has been strong for polished that comes from those categories, a sightholder said. Even so, manufacturing profits are tight, he noted.

“Generally things are good, but it’s challenging to make a profit,” the sightholder added. “Because of rough prices this year, it’s been tough to make good money. It’s not about losing money, but there’s less money to be made.”
De Beers is scheduled to release the value of its ninth sales cycle next week. The miner declined to comment Tuesday.

Image: Inspection of De Beers rough diamonds. (De Beers)

Source: DCLA

De Beers Cuts Prices of Cheaper Rough

De Beers significantly reduced prices of lower-quality rough diamonds at this week’s sight in response to a slowdown in the Indian manufacturing sector, dealers reported.

Prices fell by high-single-digit percentages versus the previous sale, sightholders told Rapaport News Tuesday. The drops were for rough costing $100 per carat or less, including both small and large stones that produce polished with low color and clarity.

Those segments of the Indian manufacturing market have suffered most from the depreciation of the rupee and tighter bank lending to the trade in recent months. De Beers’ move also reflects the seasonal weakness due to the Diwali festival, when many companies close their factories for two weeks or longer.

“There were a few corrections to align prices with the markets,” a broker said. “It was nothing earth-shattering — what [De Beers] did was sensible given the time of year.” The miner scheduled the drop to ensure manufacturers returned from Diwali to a market with lower rough prices and therefore stronger profit margins, the broker added.
De Beers mostly maintained prices for higher-value rough as demand has been strong for polished that comes from those categories, a sightholder said. Even so, manufacturing profits are tight, he noted.

“Generally things are good, but it’s challenging to make a profit,” the sightholder added. “Because of rough prices this year, it’s been tough to make good money. It’s not about losing money, but there’s less money to be made.”
De Beers is scheduled to release the value of its ninth sales cycle next week. The miner declined to comment Tuesday.

Image: Inspection of De Beers rough diamonds. (De Beers)

Source: DCLA

8ct. Bulgari Blue Diamond to Lead Christie’s New York

A Bulgari diamond ring will be the top lot at next month’s Christie’s New York auction, with a presale estimate of $13 million to $18 million.

The cushion-cut, 8.08-carat, fancy-vivid-blue piece will go under the hammer at the Magnificent Jewels sale on December 5, the auction house said last week.

The stone is one of a number of colored diamonds on offer, including a heart-shaped, 15.56-carat, fancy-intense-pink diamond-pendant necklace estimated at $9.5 million to $12 million.

Christie’s will also offer a pair of earrings weighing a combined 77.71 carats from the 187.7-carat Diavik Foxfire, North America’s largest known gem-quality rough diamond.

The earrings are valued at $1 million to $3 million, with the buyer getting something extra for the money: a trip to the Diavik diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories, where Rio Tinto unearthed the stone in 2015.

Other notable lots include a 28.70-carat, D-color, VVS2-clarity, type IIa diamond ring from the estate of art collector Lee Vandervelde. Proceeds from the piece, estimated at $1.5 million to $2.5 million, will benefit the Los Angeles-based Children’s Hospital and Children’s Institute.

An Old European-cut, 15.19-carat, D-color, internally flawless diamond ring will also go under the hammer with a presale estimate of $1.5 million to $1.8 million.

An 8.09-carat fancy-vivid-yellow diamond ring by Gillot & Co. will also be up for auction, as will signed pieces from Bulgari, Cartier, Harry Winston, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Suzanne Belperron and René Boivin.
The auction house will preview the jewels between November 30 and December 4, ahead of the sale.

Image: The 8.08-carat Bulgari blue diamond ring. (Christie’s)

Source: DCLA

8ct. Bulgari Blue Diamond to Lead Christie’s New York

A Bulgari diamond ring will be the top lot at next month’s Christie’s New York auction, with a presale estimate of $13 million to $18 million.

The cushion-cut, 8.08-carat, fancy-vivid-blue piece will go under the hammer at the Magnificent Jewels sale on December 5, the auction house said last week.

The stone is one of a number of colored diamonds on offer, including a heart-shaped, 15.56-carat, fancy-intense-pink diamond-pendant necklace estimated at $9.5 million to $12 million.

Christie’s will also offer a pair of earrings weighing a combined 77.71 carats from the 187.7-carat Diavik Foxfire, North America’s largest known gem-quality rough diamond.

The earrings are valued at $1 million to $3 million, with the buyer getting something extra for the money: a trip to the Diavik diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories, where Rio Tinto unearthed the stone in 2015.

Other notable lots include a 28.70-carat, D-color, VVS2-clarity, type IIa diamond ring from the estate of art collector Lee Vandervelde. Proceeds from the piece, estimated at $1.5 million to $2.5 million, will benefit the Los Angeles-based Children’s Hospital and Children’s Institute.

An Old European-cut, 15.19-carat, D-color, internally flawless diamond ring will also go under the hammer with a presale estimate of $1.5 million to $1.8 million.

An 8.09-carat fancy-vivid-yellow diamond ring by Gillot & Co. will also be up for auction, as will signed pieces from Bulgari, Cartier, Harry Winston, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Suzanne Belperron and René Boivin.
The auction house will preview the jewels between November 30 and December 4, ahead of the sale.

Image: The 8.08-carat Bulgari blue diamond ring. (Christie’s)

Source: DCLA

TFG takes American Swiss jewellery brand to Australia

South African retailer TFG (The Foschini Group) has expanded its American Swiss jewellery brand into Australia in the hope of shaking up the jewellery market there, chief executive Anthony Thunström said on Thursday.

The move aims to show whether TFG’s local brands can thrive in more developed markets than Sub-Saharan Africa where weak economies are seen to be limiting their potential.
“We launched an American Swiss Australia. We just opened our first four stores, we’re planning on opening another two so we’ll have six in total by the end of the year,” Thunström told Reuters after the clothing and homeware retailer reported half-year results.

“The stores are quite a big step forward in relation to other jewellery stores in Australia, it’s a 3.5 billion Australian dollar per annum market and we believe we can shake that up and disrupt it a bit.”

Thunström said the six stores were split between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and will give the group “enough of the critical mass to gauge the reception and over the next six months we’ll see how they trade.”
TFG, which owns 28 brands in 32 countries, started in Australia in 2017 when it bought menswear chain Retail Apparel Group (RAG), boosting TFG Australia’s sales, up 170.7% in Australian dollars for the six-months ended September.

Group turnover grew by 28.6% to R15.9 billion ($1.14 billion), while headline earnings per share (EPS) rose to 506 cents, up from 467.1 cents a year earlier.

Shares closed up 2.67% at R170.95.

TFG has been making more of its brands available online in a market where trading has shifted rapidly from brick and mortar stores to online retail.

With the recent launch of online selling for two additional TFG Africa brands, Donna and The FIX, online turnover through 22 of the group’s 28 brands now contributes 7.9% of group turnover, the company said.
On Wednesday TFG launched e-commerce platform myTFGworld.com, pitting it against rivals such as Naspers’ Takealot.com online retailer and fashion retailer Superbalist.

Thunström said the group will leverage its 13.4 million customers and omni-channel formula to stay ahead of competitors.

“We’ve had a big push with online from the last couple of years but we’ve upped the ante over the last 12 months. We’re spending an increasingly amount of capex and operating expenditure on our online offering,” Thunström said.

Online shopping’s share of total retail sales in South Africa is still hovering around 1%, but barriers to entry, such as a lack of internet access, are being overcome while the convenience of online shopping is drawing more and more customers.

Source: DCLA

TFG takes American Swiss jewellery brand to Australia

South African retailer TFG (The Foschini Group) has expanded its American Swiss jewellery brand into Australia in the hope of shaking up the jewellery market there, chief executive Anthony Thunström said on Thursday.

The move aims to show whether TFG’s local brands can thrive in more developed markets than Sub-Saharan Africa where weak economies are seen to be limiting their potential.
“We launched an American Swiss Australia. We just opened our first four stores, we’re planning on opening another two so we’ll have six in total by the end of the year,” Thunström told Reuters after the clothing and homeware retailer reported half-year results.

“The stores are quite a big step forward in relation to other jewellery stores in Australia, it’s a 3.5 billion Australian dollar per annum market and we believe we can shake that up and disrupt it a bit.”

Thunström said the six stores were split between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and will give the group “enough of the critical mass to gauge the reception and over the next six months we’ll see how they trade.”
TFG, which owns 28 brands in 32 countries, started in Australia in 2017 when it bought menswear chain Retail Apparel Group (RAG), boosting TFG Australia’s sales, up 170.7% in Australian dollars for the six-months ended September.

Group turnover grew by 28.6% to R15.9 billion ($1.14 billion), while headline earnings per share (EPS) rose to 506 cents, up from 467.1 cents a year earlier.

Shares closed up 2.67% at R170.95.

TFG has been making more of its brands available online in a market where trading has shifted rapidly from brick and mortar stores to online retail.

With the recent launch of online selling for two additional TFG Africa brands, Donna and The FIX, online turnover through 22 of the group’s 28 brands now contributes 7.9% of group turnover, the company said.
On Wednesday TFG launched e-commerce platform myTFGworld.com, pitting it against rivals such as Naspers’ Takealot.com online retailer and fashion retailer Superbalist.

Thunström said the group will leverage its 13.4 million customers and omni-channel formula to stay ahead of competitors.

“We’ve had a big push with online from the last couple of years but we’ve upped the ante over the last 12 months. We’re spending an increasingly amount of capex and operating expenditure on our online offering,” Thunström said.

Online shopping’s share of total retail sales in South Africa is still hovering around 1%, but barriers to entry, such as a lack of internet access, are being overcome while the convenience of online shopping is drawing more and more customers.

Source: DCLA

Everything Changes, Some Things Stay the Same

The diamond and jewelry trade tends to be reactive rather than proactive.
That was clear during the recent conference season, with the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA), the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) and the World Diamond Council (WDC) all holding their annual meetings in October.

Much of the discussion, according to reports from the meetings, was centered on how the trade should relate to synthetic diamonds. It’s a difficult question following the recent decision by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to expand the definition of “diamond” to include those grown in a laboratory.

How does that apply to invoicing, advertising or grading reports? Having reached equal footing with mined diamonds in the eyes of the FTC, should lab-grown stones be allowed on the bourse trading floors? Of course not. And the trade restated its position that the use of the word “diamond,” without any qualifiers before it, refers to a natural stone by default.

But language isn’t really the issue. Behind the debate lies a deep concern about the growing acceptance of synthetics — both in retail and within the trade. De Beers’ entry into the market has played a significant role in that development, giving others a green light to follow suit.

Forget De Beers’ claim that it is helping differentiate natural from synthetic diamonds through pricing. The company is encouraging demand for a product that will ultimately eat into the natural-diamond market. We’re seeing that already, with more retailers, such as Macy’s and JCPenney, convinced that consumers will “grow in love” with synthetic-diamond jewelry.

The trade’s leadership claims it was blindsided by De Beers and the FTC. But its efforts at this point to engage with the FTC to revoke the decision will ultimately prove to be a case of too little, too late.

Rather, we must recognize that the industry trade groups that met in Mumbai, along with CIBJO, which met in Colombia, failed their constituents. So did the Diamond Producers Association (DPA), of which De Beers holds the current chairmanship.

Why was the natural-diamond-industry lobby ineffective a year ago — if active at all — while synthetics producers were convincing the FTC to include them in its definition? Where is the outrage from DPA members over their chairman actively working against the group’s mandate to promote natural diamonds as real and rare?

The industry’s reactive approach to the synthetics issue signals a need to update its strategy. Perhaps an initiative to combine the roles of the WFDB and IDMA into one organization would bring them new energy and purpose.

For now, the inability to change leadership at these organizations suggests the rest of the trade sees them as ineffective. As the WFDB and IDMA begin another term with the same leadership and a new committee working to spread the WFDB’s influence, we urge trade groups to be more proactive in dealing with the many challenges facing the natural-diamond market.

Source: diamonds.net