De Beers Sales Sink to Lowest Level Since 2015

De Beers’ rough-diamond sales plummeted 53% this month as customers accepted the miner’s offer to defer purchases until the market improves.

Weak polished demand and excess supply in the manufacturing and trading sectors have hurt sightholders’ appetite for rough goods, sources explained. As a result, revenues fell to $250 million at De Beers’ sixth sales cycle, the company reported Tuesday — the lowest since late 2015.

“In the US maybe the demand is there, but because of slow demand in Hong Kong and China, we are not able to get the sales [to match] our inventory,” a sightholder told Rapaport News Tuesday. “It’s difficult to make money, and [with high inventories] it’s difficult to keep on buying rough and manufacturing like normal.”

De Beers kept prices steady at last week’s July sight in Botswana, after lowering them in June, buyers said. Instead of offering further discounts, it permitted customers to delay purchases, over and above the standard allowance of one deferral of a box of goods per “band” (selection of goods) per half year. Relaxing the buying obligations should help ease the crisis affecting the market, which will dissipate when diamonds work their way through the pipeline, De Beers predicted.

“With ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, retailers managing inventory levels, and polished-diamond inventories in the midstream continuing to be higher than normal, De Beers Group provided customers with additional flexibility to defer some of their rough-diamond allocations to later in the year,” De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver said. “As a result, we saw a reduction in sales during the sixth cycle of 2019.”

Sales haven’t been this weak since December 2015, when proceeds totaled $248 million. According to Rapaport estimates, the November 2015 sale was even smaller, at approximately $180 million.

Sightholders and brokers showed little optimism that the situation would improve soon, as companies need to sell their excess goods to redress the imbalance of stocks.

“The current crisis in the midstream has moved upstream,” Dudu Harari of brokerage firm Bluedax wrote in a report on the sight. “This means producers can’t sell the quantities they are used to. If they want to increase their sales, there will need to be a big price correction downward to allow the market to reduce its stock of polished.”

De Beers’ rough-diamond revenues have declined 23% year on year in the first six sales cycles of 2019, according to Rapaport calculations. The next sight begins on August 19.

Image: A box of rough diamonds from a De Beers sight.

Source: DCLA

De Beers Sales Sink to Lowest Level Since 2015

De Beers’ rough-diamond sales plummeted 53% this month as customers accepted the miner’s offer to defer purchases until the market improves.

Weak polished demand and excess supply in the manufacturing and trading sectors have hurt sightholders’ appetite for rough goods, sources explained. As a result, revenues fell to $250 million at De Beers’ sixth sales cycle, the company reported Tuesday — the lowest since late 2015.

“In the US maybe the demand is there, but because of slow demand in Hong Kong and China, we are not able to get the sales [to match] our inventory,” a sightholder told Rapaport News Tuesday. “It’s difficult to make money, and [with high inventories] it’s difficult to keep on buying rough and manufacturing like normal.”

De Beers kept prices steady at last week’s July sight in Botswana, after lowering them in June, buyers said. Instead of offering further discounts, it permitted customers to delay purchases, over and above the standard allowance of one deferral of a box of goods per “band” (selection of goods) per half year. Relaxing the buying obligations should help ease the crisis affecting the market, which will dissipate when diamonds work their way through the pipeline, De Beers predicted.

“With ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, retailers managing inventory levels, and polished-diamond inventories in the midstream continuing to be higher than normal, De Beers Group provided customers with additional flexibility to defer some of their rough-diamond allocations to later in the year,” De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver said. “As a result, we saw a reduction in sales during the sixth cycle of 2019.”

Sales haven’t been this weak since December 2015, when proceeds totaled $248 million. According to Rapaport estimates, the November 2015 sale was even smaller, at approximately $180 million.

Sightholders and brokers showed little optimism that the situation would improve soon, as companies need to sell their excess goods to redress the imbalance of stocks.

“The current crisis in the midstream has moved upstream,” Dudu Harari of brokerage firm Bluedax wrote in a report on the sight. “This means producers can’t sell the quantities they are used to. If they want to increase their sales, there will need to be a big price correction downward to allow the market to reduce its stock of polished.”

De Beers’ rough-diamond revenues have declined 23% year on year in the first six sales cycles of 2019, according to Rapaport calculations. The next sight begins on August 19.

Image: A box of rough diamonds from a De Beers sight.

Source: DCLA

A vacationing teacher finds a 2.12-carat diamond at an Arkansas state park

This Nebraska teacher will surely win show-and-tell once the school year begins.
Josh Lanik, 36, was vacationing with his family when he discovered a brandy-colored gem at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas.

Josh Lanik’s family was ready to give up.

The gem-hunting novices were “over” their search at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park after a hot morning with nothing to show buts rocks and glass, Lanik told The Washington Post. Everyone thought it was time for lunch.

Then, the Nebraska teacher stumbled on a shiny brown stone about the size of a jelly bean.

He plucked it from the gravel and took it back to the Murfreesboro park’s offices, making sure to put it in his bag rather than his pockets on the advice of park staff, who had seen many visitors lose their precious finds. A woman took the gem into a backroom in a pill bottle.

She emerged with a smile on her face, Lanik recalled. At 2.12 carats, the diamond was the biggest found in the park this year.

“They were all sorts of excited,” Lanik said.

The Lanik family was less jubilant. Tweeting about the family’s vacation that day, Lanik didn’t even mention the gem. The 36-year-old from Hebron, Neb., figured it wasn’t that special at a place where vacationers regularly pay up to $10 to dig in a 37-acre field atop an old volcanic crater.

Visitors have unearthed and registered almost 300 diamonds at the Crater so far this year, according to the park, which says its fields hide brown, yellow and white gems. The total 2019 haul amounts to about 54 carats, and 11 of this year’s diamonds weighed at least one carat.

But Lanik’s find stood out for its size. The average diamond found at the Crater is about one-fifth to one-fourth of a carat, the park says.

Heavy rainfall probably helped Lanik’s search by uncovering gems, which glint and catch the eye of diggers, park interpreter Waymon Cox told Arkansas State Parks. Park staff found lots of diamonds at the ground’s surface after 14 inches of rain on July 16 but nothing like Lanik’s 2.12 carats.

“Are you going to retire now?” Lanik said one of his former students texted him after seeing the news.

But size is just one factor in a diamond’s value, and when Lanik had the gem appraised in Little Rock, he found it’s “not worth near as much as you’d think,” he said. Uncut or “raw” gems, as well as brown diamonds, are less valuable than a cut or white gem, and the Lanik family’s stone is marred by a fissure. Lanik declined to share the estimated value, but even cut brown diamonds of similar size can be found on eBay for less than $1,000.

Lanik said he plans to put the diamond into a ring for his wife to wear and eventually pass down to their sons. Finding the gem made the long, hot day of digging worth the effort for Lanik and his wife — but he is not so sure about the attitudes of his boys, 6 and 8 years old.

“I think they were just hungry at that point,” Lanik said.

Source: DCLA

A vacationing teacher finds a 2.12-carat diamond at an Arkansas state park

This Nebraska teacher will surely win show-and-tell once the school year begins.
Josh Lanik, 36, was vacationing with his family when he discovered a brandy-colored gem at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas.

Josh Lanik’s family was ready to give up.

The gem-hunting novices were “over” their search at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park after a hot morning with nothing to show buts rocks and glass, Lanik told The Washington Post. Everyone thought it was time for lunch.

Then, the Nebraska teacher stumbled on a shiny brown stone about the size of a jelly bean.

He plucked it from the gravel and took it back to the Murfreesboro park’s offices, making sure to put it in his bag rather than his pockets on the advice of park staff, who had seen many visitors lose their precious finds. A woman took the gem into a backroom in a pill bottle.

She emerged with a smile on her face, Lanik recalled. At 2.12 carats, the diamond was the biggest found in the park this year.

“They were all sorts of excited,” Lanik said.

The Lanik family was less jubilant. Tweeting about the family’s vacation that day, Lanik didn’t even mention the gem. The 36-year-old from Hebron, Neb., figured it wasn’t that special at a place where vacationers regularly pay up to $10 to dig in a 37-acre field atop an old volcanic crater.

Visitors have unearthed and registered almost 300 diamonds at the Crater so far this year, according to the park, which says its fields hide brown, yellow and white gems. The total 2019 haul amounts to about 54 carats, and 11 of this year’s diamonds weighed at least one carat.

But Lanik’s find stood out for its size. The average diamond found at the Crater is about one-fifth to one-fourth of a carat, the park says.

Heavy rainfall probably helped Lanik’s search by uncovering gems, which glint and catch the eye of diggers, park interpreter Waymon Cox told Arkansas State Parks. Park staff found lots of diamonds at the ground’s surface after 14 inches of rain on July 16 but nothing like Lanik’s 2.12 carats.

“Are you going to retire now?” Lanik said one of his former students texted him after seeing the news.

But size is just one factor in a diamond’s value, and when Lanik had the gem appraised in Little Rock, he found it’s “not worth near as much as you’d think,” he said. Uncut or “raw” gems, as well as brown diamonds, are less valuable than a cut or white gem, and the Lanik family’s stone is marred by a fissure. Lanik declined to share the estimated value, but even cut brown diamonds of similar size can be found on eBay for less than $1,000.

Lanik said he plans to put the diamond into a ring for his wife to wear and eventually pass down to their sons. Finding the gem made the long, hot day of digging worth the effort for Lanik and his wife — but he is not so sure about the attitudes of his boys, 6 and 8 years old.

“I think they were just hungry at that point,” Lanik said.

Source: DCLA

Bella Hadid pairs her teeny bikini with $12K in diamonds

Bella Hadid is vacationing in Mykonos, Greece, with sister Gigi, and despite packing enough bikinis and one-pieces to ensure multiple daily outfit options, there’s one extremely expensive accessory she’s sticking with throughout.

The supermodel, 22, has accessorized each of her bathing suits with jeweler Jacquie Aiche’s Diamond Shaker Belly Chain, which retails for a whopping $11,875.

Bella Hadid

The 14k gold and pavé diamond piece can also be worn as a necklace, though Hadid has been sporting hers slung low around her hips.

Over the weekend, the catwalker posted photos of herself pairing the sparkling chain with both a colorful one-piece by Louisa Ballou ($375) and a barely there bikini top ($104) and thong bottoms ($104) from For Love & Lemons.

She also wore it to the beach on Monday, styling it with pigtails and a skimpy brown bikini.

Source: DCLA

Bella Hadid pairs her teeny bikini with $12K in diamonds

Bella Hadid is vacationing in Mykonos, Greece, with sister Gigi, and despite packing enough bikinis and one-pieces to ensure multiple daily outfit options, there’s one extremely expensive accessory she’s sticking with throughout.

The supermodel, 22, has accessorized each of her bathing suits with jeweler Jacquie Aiche’s Diamond Shaker Belly Chain, which retails for a whopping $11,875.

Bella Hadid

The 14k gold and pavé diamond piece can also be worn as a necklace, though Hadid has been sporting hers slung low around her hips.

Over the weekend, the catwalker posted photos of herself pairing the sparkling chain with both a colorful one-piece by Louisa Ballou ($375) and a barely there bikini top ($104) and thong bottoms ($104) from For Love & Lemons.

She also wore it to the beach on Monday, styling it with pigtails and a skimpy brown bikini.

Source: DCLA

Bulgari Boosts LVMH Jewelry Growth

Sales and profit from watches and jewelry at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton grew in the first half of 2019 amid a strong performance by its Bulgari brand, the company reported Wednesday.

Revenue for the categories rose 8% to EUR 2.14 billion ($2.38 billion) in the six months ending June 30, while profit increased 5% to EUR 357 million ($397.4 million).

“Bulgari made good progress in its stores, and continued to gain market share,” the group said. Lines such as Serpenti, B.Zero1, Diva and Fiorever performed well, as did the new high-end jewelry collection, Cinemagia, LVMH added.

Additionally, Chaumet’s Bee My Love, Liens and Josephine lines saw strong improvements, while watch brand Hublot continued to develop its store network, the company noted.

LVMH’s group revenue jumped 15% to EUR 25.08 billion ($27.92 billion), with increases across all categories. The US and Asia saw strong growth, as did Europe, particularly in France, which performed better in the second quarter than the first as protests in the country became less intense. Net profit climbed 14% to EUR 5.3 billion ($5.89 billion).

Last week, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault edged out Bill Gates for the number-two spot on Bloomberg’s Billionaire’s Index, the first time in the list’s seven-year history Gates has been pushed out of that slot. Arnault’s fortune has increased to $107.6 billion as LVMH’s share price continues to grow, Bloomberg noted. The company’s stock price had risen around 1% at press time Thursday.

Source: DCLA