IDEX Polished Price Index for September: Sixth Month of Consecutive Decline
October 03, 22
(IDEX Online) - The IDEX Polished Price Index suffered a sixth consecutive month of decline in September. It was down 2.34 per cent, the biggest drop since the Index started falling early in March. In August it fell by 2.31 per cent. The September decline was almost a straight line, much as it has been in recent months. The Index began falling in early March. It was down 2.1 per cent in April, 0.69 per cent in May, 1.18 per cent in June and 2.05 per cent in July. January and February, by comparison, showed sharp increases, up by 5.67 per cent and 4.14 per cent
respectively.
The longer-term graph below shows the Index in continuing decline since it peaked in March of this year. Its average value through September was 140.94, compared with 144.02 in August. In July it was 147.59, down from June (150.01), May (151.28) and April (153.30) The Index had
been in decline since mid-2018, but at a much more gradual pace. It hit a low point in April 2020, with the first lockdowns hit, but the overall trend since then had been upwards.
Month-to-month diamond prices were down 2.1 per cent in September, compared with 2.4 per cent in August, which was the biggest fall in almost four years. They fell 1.6 per cent in July and 0.8 per cent in June. Monthly price increases peaked in February, before Russia invaded Ukraine, at 6.2 per cent and have been in negative growth since April.
Year-to-year polished diamond prices showed slower growth for a sixth consecutive month in September. At 7.8 per cent it was the lowest figure so far of 2022. Growth has been steadily slowing each month since it peaked in March of this year at 27.9 per cent. The figure for August
was 10.0 per cent, July was 13.7 per cent, down from 17.5 per cent in June and 21.1 per cent in May. The overall trend had been upwards since the depths of the pandemic in April 2020, albeit with a dip last September and October.
Polished month-on-month prices for all key sizes shown below fell again in September, but some losses were slightly less than the previous month. 1.0-cts goods fell by 2.8 per cent, compared to a 3.3 per cent loss in August. And 0.50-cts fell by 2.5 per cent, compared to 3.2 per cent.
However 2.0-cts and 3.0-cts saw slightly bigger losses than the previous month.
The increase in year-on-year polished prices slowed in September for 1.0-cts to 3.0-cts goods, as the prices of 0.5-cts and 4.0-cts fell. All sizes shown below fared less well than in August. The most dramatic change was among 4.0-cts, which showed a y-o-y increase in August of 8.3 per
cent in August, but a 2.6 per cent drop in September. 2.0-cts goods performed best, up 14.1 per cent.
Prices for all sizes shown below kept on falling in September. It is the most sustained period of decline in recent years. Prices peaked in March after many months of significant increases but fell sharply in April and have carried on falling ever since.
Assessment: The IDEX Polished Price Index has now been declining since early March and shows no clear sign of slowing. The Index's percentage drop in September is the highest so far, marginally upon August. Larger and better quality goods are faring best, as a refuge for
investors, but consumer demand generally is weak, interest rates are rising, geopolitical turmoil continues, and polished stocks are building.