Special Feature
10 insights from the diamond trade before you bid goodbye to 2021
- Global supply volumes have been impacted by some mines coming to the end of their operational lives, such as Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine in Australia. Rough supply has also been impacted by natural issues such as high rainfall preventing normal mine operations
- The increase in rough prices is in tandem with the polished prices going up. People are paying a premium at tenders and outside market purchases to gain market share. That is something that will impact profit margins.
- The polished diamond prices have been stagnant for more than a decade and the sudden surge in price by almost 15 per cent might shake up consumer confidence
- Since September, China has become slower than what it was in the first half of 2021. But the retailers there are also very confident that the on-going season and the Chinese New Year will be a good period for sales, and they also see the first-half of 2022 as a good time to do business.
- Fancy shapes are doing fantastically well in the US, India has opened up to a very strong season, the North and the South are doing extremely well, the East and the West are also picking up, we are in a very good zone, where everything is doing well.
- Demand for uncertified polished melee exceptionally strong in December – this emerges from the demand for lower end goods in the U.S.
- Skilled labour still remains to be a challenge, as after the pandemic many of them shifted industries – this is posing an even bigger problem as cutters and polishers now have to acclimatize themselves to working with smaller stones
- In India, the demand for diamond jewellery has been on a steady upward trajectory since July
- Indian consumers are drawn towards purchasing multifunctional diamond jewellery
- Consumers don’t mind paying a 10 per cent premium on diamond jewellery but they want immediate delivery of goods – considering the incongruence in supply-demand change, this is posing a big problem for both retailers and manufacturers
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