The feeling is palpable the moment you walk through the doors. I am referring to the September Hong Kong Gem and Jewellery Fair. It's common knowledge that the Chinese market has become critical to the global diamond industry over the past decade, but it's only when you walk through the doors of the show or walk the streets of Hong Kong that you truly sense the enormity of the market and its ability to effortlessly attract the worldwide trade to its doorstep. Read More...

Let’s start with a riddle. Look carefully at these beautiful diamond bracelets containing 20 to 30 pointers. Each bangle contains a total weight of around 10 to 15 carats. They are beautiful high-collection goods having a wholesale price of some $20,000 per piece. Read More...

The audience in the large space where auctions are held tends to be tense, excited, curious and worried when an exceptional item is on the stand and the auctioneer is soliciting ever-higher bids. The bidders are usually in the audience, at times making small gestures to express their willingness to up their bid. Other bidders are on the phone with auction house staffers passing their instructions on to the auctioneer. Read More...

To be nice to De Beers, I politely put a question mark in the headline. However, my gut feeling says that it should have been an exclamation mark – maybe even a whole row of exclamation marks. Common sense would say that De Beers Diamond Jewellers should have closed down a long time ago. Read More...

1. There is generally a good mood in the entire diamond pipeline, something I haven’t seen in quite some time. From top to bottom, diamond miners are reporting an increase in income and production, as well as a rise in rough diamond prices. De Beers, Alrosa, Rio Tinto Diamonds, Petra and Gem Diamonds are all doing very well – and they represent the majority of the supply of rough diamonds to the market. Read More...

When the experts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issue in-depth reports on a specific country, the governments involved generally listen – especially in developing countries in Africa. These reports aren’t unilateral exercises; they are the outcome of an extensive bilateral consultation process with the relevant governmental bodies. Read More...

The award for the most ironic piece of news of the slow summer months should perhaps go to that in which online diamond and jewelry retailer Blue Nile said it was creating a physical presence in order to enable potential clients to get a see and a feel for its goods. After taking the online charge forward for the past 15 years, the leading diamond and jewelry e-tailer has an agreement with leading U.S. department store chain Nordstrom to give potential buyers the opportunity to look at goods before placing an order online. Read More...

This column often discusses issues that are very “upstream.” Upstream is the term describing the initial part of the jewelry pipeline – mining, manufacturing and their related issues. Some feel that upstream topics are not relevant to the downstream, meaning retailers. That because they are facing very different issues, upstream subjects are not important to them and they can’t relate. Read More...

On July 30, 1914, 100 years ago, in smoked-filled boardrooms and government offices, two entirely different sets of negotiations were taking place: one was to prevent the eruption of World War I, and the other was to prevent the threatening collapse of the diamond world. The first one is well-documented; the latter is more complicated, and I have often wondered whether the governments of the diamond producers at that time ever realized the enormity of the impact of their actions from these discussions.   Read More...

Is the Indian economy about to take a great leap forward under the leadership of the newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi? His overwhelming victory as head of the Bharatiya Janata Party in May's general election was widely hailed by the business sector, including many of the country's diamantaires, as he is recognized as having a business-friendly approach. Read More...