Rough Diamond Price Hikes Continue at Antwerp Sights

It is almost a cliche, but the prices of rough diamonds are still climbing.  BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and, as first reported on IDEX Online, Aber have all raised prices on most articles. And while resisting, at the end buyers don’t leave the goods on the table.

BHPB, which surprisingly started their sight earlier than usual - Friday, raised prices an estimated 5 - 6 percent. The market responded gladly to the early start of the sight and by Wednesday many of the goods were already sold and heading to manufacturing.

However, some buyers have noted with puzzlement that BHPB sights in the past few months suffer from some inconsistency in assortments, pricing and availability, unbefitting a company of its stature.

The most outstanding hike at Rio Tinto’s sight this week was on the 3+ carats makeable goods - fifteen percent. The price of sawbles 2 – 10 carats is up 7 – 8 percent, while 3 – 6 grainer sawbles is up a more modest 3 percent.

Overall the price of goods is up about 6 – 7 percent, with the sight estimated to total handsomely over $25 million.

Aber also raised prices this week, by roughly 4 percent, bringing its allocation to about $20 million. While it lowered prices in some categories, the sharpest rise was in the medium sized ($700) and bigger articles.

Naturally, many in the industry are wondering until when the prices will continue to rise, especially since it looks like its happening at an accelerated rate.

Some remember worryingly other times, in the late 70s, when a similar trend resulted in a resonating crash. While the situation is different in many ways today, traders are trying to look ahead and predict when the tide will turn.