DIAMOND GEMS WEEKLY

Pink Payday: A 24-carat fancy intense pink diamond set in a Bulgari ring will headline Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva on November 10, with an estimate of CHF10 million to CHF15 million ($12 million to $18 million). Arguably, the strongest theme shaping the diamond and jewelry market in 2026 has been the shift toward higher price points and the high end. That trend was underscored again last week when Blue Nile became Royal Asscher’s exclusive licensed retaile

Once again, our attention turns to the diamond mining segment, which has arguably been hardest hit by the decline in demand. This past week, two mid-tier miners effectively announced their intention to exit their operations. Petra Diamonds, owner of the legendary Cullinan and Finsch mines in South Africa, launched a strategic review to address its liquidity concerns, including a possible sale of its assets. The company has already unsuccessfully sought to sell Finsch and no

We’re back after a brief holiday hiatus, and there were some interesting industry developments and events while we were away. For one, the long-awaited Natural Diamond Council campaign under new CEO Amber Pepper was unveiled. Rather than a consumer campaign, however, the organization introduced a new identity: The Diamond Collective. I share my thoughts in my latest Diamond Minute: The Diamond Collective Unveiled. As suggested in the video, it has prompted me to refer to

Sometimes weeks feel like months in the diamond industry. We have been talking about the CIBJO Congress for some time already, and the trade body’s proposed move to make “synthetic” the sole descriptive term for diamonds created in a process other than mining. Well, the group approved the change. It will replace “laboratory-grown” and “laboratory-created” with “synthetic” in its Blue Books for Diamonds and Colored Gemstones.... Read the full September 14 edition of the Pres

An interesting idea was floated at the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) Congress, which marked the organization’s centenary. In his keynote address, Martin Rapaport, chairman of the Rapaport Group, urged the industry to focus its marketing on “selling expensive diamonds to rich people who want to spend money.” He has made that call before. Some may interpret it as a suggestion that the industry should ignore the rest of the market, including the middle-income segment,

It’s been a relatively quiet period, with many dealers in Antwerp, Israel and New York taking vacation over the summer. That also applies to the news flow, which has been rather sparse as earnings season winds down. For me, the highlight of the coming week will be the CIBJO Congress at the Vicenza show. I always love attending Vicenza, despite feeling eternally underdressed there. It has not only emerged as the most important European jewelry fair, but is arguably the numbe

Have you been following developments in Russia vis-à-vis its diamond industry? They’re worth watching as the country pushes to expand its domestic diamond manufacturing sector. This week, Alrosa CEO Pavel Marinychev met with Russian deputy finance minister Alexey Moiseyev and Smolensk region governor Vasily Anokhin to advance the development of a domestic diamond cutting cluster in Smolensk and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Marinychev discussed the same initiative with P

India has passed a law providing a full income tax exemption for foreign companies trading rough diamonds through the country’s special notified zones. As we discussed in last week’s memo, when the law was proposed, the move at last brings India into the diamond trading conversation. Think of it as India’s version of beneficiation, adding value to its dominant diamond manufacturing sector. Frankly, it’s somewhat of a mystery that India has maintained such a draconian tax re

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the diamond trading centers seem to be getting more assertive in claiming their positions in the market. Over the past year, Antwerp has regained some of its lost stature through effective lobbying that helped secure exemptions from US tariffs for European-sourced diamonds. The UAE has maintained its momentum, recording record diamond trading levels in 2025, while Qatar established a diamond bourse that was welcomed last month as the newe

July was a busy month for the diamond and jewelry industry from a news perspective, even if trading activity eased, as it typically does during the northern hemisphere summer period. Beneath the seasonal slowdown, however, were several consequential developments, many of them emerging from the earnings season that began in July and continues through August. See the full July 2026 News Roundup Looking at the past week, the luxury groups once again stood out, with their jew

Undoubtedly, the biggest story of the week was the reinstatement of US tariffs on imports from key trading partners following the expiration of the temporary 10% global tariff regime. The new structure is more nuanced. Some countries gained exemption from import duties, others face a 10% tariff, while imports from most countries are now subject to a 12.5% rate. (See the Jeweler’s Vigilance Committee Member’s Alert and its Tariff Tracker). For the diamond industry, Botswan

It’s been a quietly significant week in the diamond industry, with some rather astonishing announcements across the mining, trading and retail sectors. And we had a fantastically large diamond recovery to get the juices flowing. Starting with mining, we saw operations cease at two legendary diamond mines. A court filing revealed that Burgundy Diamond Mines is closing the Ekati mine in Canada after attempts to sell it failed. Annual production at Ekati peaked at around 7.4

Just as I was crossing the t's and dotting the i's on this week’s newsletter, a press release landed in my inbox announcing that De Beers is pausing operations at the Venetia mine in South Africa for two years. That changed the lead story because this is a significant development, even if it isn't entirely surprising. In fact, I argued this was a likely outcome in the Diamond Executive Report, The Value of De Beers, published in May, where I wrote: “De Beers might conside

By far the most consequential story over the past week went a little under the radar. De Beers signaled it would reduce prices at the sight that began today, as reported by Rapaport’s Joshua Freedman. The move, corroborated by my own sources, is a sign that De Beers believes the market is improving. That may sound counterintuitive given the price cuts, but De Beers typically adjusts prices to stimulate buying when it sees polished inventories have declined and demand beginn

This week I turn my attention to technology and what I believe may be the real opportunity for lab-grown diamonds. Over the weekend, I was alerted to a video by Chloe Abram. If you're not familiar with her, as I wasn't, she describes herself as a video journalist who makes optimistic explainers about technology. Her latest video, The $1 Trillion Problem Diamonds Can Solve, attracted more than a million views in its first day. In it, she gives an easy-to-follow explanation

Marquise-shape diamond ring offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in June 2026. (Sotheby's) It seemed like a quiet week, but there were some consequential developments in the diamond and jewelry world. Perhaps the key word to sum it all up is transparency. The biggest development in that regard was the GIA's announcement that it plans to: a) add comments to certain diamond grading reports noting that fluorescence may enhance a diamond's appearance in UV-rich environments

For many of us in the diamond and jewelry industry, LinkedIn is our playground. It’s the platform on which we engage most with our peers, share ideas, expand our networks, and build our personal and company brands. For years, the platform gave us a false sense of success, as the algorithm seemed to encourage engagement regardless of content quality. Frankly, it was quite simple to rack up thousands of impressions and hundreds of likes on almost any post. If you haven't no

It’s been a somewhat disruptive week for me, balancing travel with content creation, business development and analysis. I expect to be back to my regular broadcasting schedule this week. It’s also been an interesting period for the diamond and jewelry market. The post-Vegas environment can be unsettling, as companies focus on bringing goods home, following up on new connections and, hopefully, filling orders. That said, the industry conversation has shifted gears, as we’v

I was getting relatively positive energy from Las Vegas over the weekend, with the usual stream of company announcements timed around the JCK show (see What's Happening in Vegas?). Of course, the more important element of the show is sentiment and trading levels, which were perhaps best summed up by one subscriber who told me: “The feeling is that the US market is okay, but lab-grown keeps growing. In loose diamonds, only 2-carat and up is moving.” That’s not a big surpr

We have a big week ahead as the Las Vegas shows kick off on Wednesday and continue through the weekend. Las Vegas Jewelry Week remains one of the clearest indicators of the state of the US jewelry market and arguably offers the strongest networking environment on the industry calendar. The K-shaped economy has become a defining theme in how the US retail landscape has evolved, with jewelers increasingly shifting either toward higher-end, value-driven strategies or volume-ba