IDEX Polished Price Index Slides in March

(IDEX Online) - The IDEX Polished Price Index fell by 1.52 per cent in March, its worst performance since last September.

It fell by 0.30 per cent in February and 0.27 per cent in January.

Trading across all major hubs remains quiet, amid weak sentiment and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, with a slow recovery in China and concerns over new G7 sanctions against Russia that came into force on 1 March. All goods of 1.0-cts or above being imported into the 27 EU nations must now go through Antwerp, where proof of origin is checked. Traders complained that in the weeks after it was launched the process was causing major delays, with shipments taking a week or more, rather than a day to clear Customs. Problems have since eased. Russia is responding to the sanctions by offloading its diamonds to the Gokhran, the state-run repository of precious stones and metals.

The Index now shows three consecutive months of decline after a slight bounce last November and December. It hit a 20-year high in 2022 and has since been in long-term overall decline.

Month-to-month prices were down by 0.8 per cent during March, following on from a 0.5 per cent dip in February and a modest 0.4 per cent rise in January. Prices fell consistently from April 2022 to October 2023.

Year-to-year prices were down 15.7 per cent in March, largely in line with the previous two months. They were down 15.3 per cent in February after a 15.7 per cent drop in January.

Prices for all sizes of polished diamonds fell again during March, except for 0.50-cts goods, which saw a small 0.5 per cent rise. The biggest losses were among 5.0-cts.

Year-to-year price drops in March mirrored those of January and February, with the biggest losses among 0.50-cts and progressively larger goods generally faring better.

Prices for all goods shown fell during March, except for 0.5-cts which rose very slightly.