IDEX Online Research: Polished Prices Up Slightly in July

(IDEX Online) – The IDEX Online Polished Diamond Index increased in July to 136.8 from 135.5 in May. In round items, all sizes increased in price apart from 0.5 carats which were unchanged.

The IDEX Online Polished Diamond Index began July at 135.7 and ended the month up slightly at 136.8 as is seen in the graph below. As in past months, prices were largely flat in July.

Taking a more long-term view, the index has been rising since April is approximately at the same point it recorded in June 2012 when it started a slight downward trend.

Prices of polished goods moved up in July and the coming months will confirm whether that is a rising trend or whether they will slip back.

For a clearer picture of long-term price changes, see the Index of Round Diamond Price Trends by Size (graph) below. This shows that stones of 2 carats and less are rising modestly while 3.0 and 4.0 carat stones saw more modest rises in July compared with the two preceding months.

Outlook

The sixth Sight of 2014 took place in July, indicating ongoing strong demand for rough diamonds, with sales estimated at well in excess of $700 million.

The Sight sales figure was above that of the previous Sight of the year, and higher than the Sights before that since the start of the year which were around the $700 million mark.

“The July allocation provides the last opportunity for a large part of the Indian manufacturing base to have production ready for the Christmas season, given the Diwali holidays in October,” said Mike Aggett, the CEO of H. Goldie & Company. “Therefore perhaps unsurprisingly De Beers presented a substantial Sight, estimated to be in the region of $750 million, including a broad range of Ex Plan boxes across the full range.”