Outwardly, the annual 2013 diamond pipeline looks similar to that for 2012: the rough supplies into the value chain totaled $15.56 billion (2012: $15.5 billion), which, after cutting and polishing, yielded $21.6 billion worth of polished (2012: $20.7 billion) at polished wholesale prices (PWP). Global diamond jewelry retail sales grew by 3-4 percent from $72.1 billion to $74.48 billion, just skirting the $75 billion level. The pipeline's real story, however, plays itself out internally within the value chain: the industry's performance in 2013 significantly improved over 2012. Read More...

Columnists sometimes do the strangest things, like writing a column about something they know very little, and sometimes nothing, about, tossing some figures to give credence to their writings, and in the process causing damage. Read More...

In a Memo two weeks ago, we published a letter by South African Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu addressed to the Secretary General of the OECD in which she made it clear that her government “cannot accept unilateral initiatives and policies supported by the OECD which bypass sovereign governments, discredit international agreements like the Kimberley Process and last but not least impact on minerals from Africa without proper representation from Africa.” Read More...

Few issues in the diamond industry raise more concern than financing. Bank financing is what allows most businesses to expand, overcome temporary cash flow hardships, purchase new equipment, make long-term plans and execute programs. If in many industries a popular figure of speech is, “Bank financing is oxygen” then in the diamond-manufacturing sector of the industry, financing is, quite literally, oxygen. It keeps the manufacturing sector alive. Read More...

The South African government has put the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on notice of their strong objections to the so-called ‘Precious Stones Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Working Group (PSMI-WG),’ advising the global development organization this week that “it cannot accept unilateral initiatives and policies supported by the OECD which bypass sovereign governments, discredit international agreements like the Kimberley Process and last but not least impact on minerals from Africa without proper representation from Africa.” Read More...

“Even though every rough diamond is unique, buying and selling them depends upon assigning value to agreed standards of size, shape, color and clarity. De Beers combines these factors into 12,000 different, identifiable categories of diamonds. Deciding how to classify any given diamond is a task that requires skill and experience. It is at the heart of what we do,” states the De Beers company website. Read More...

Last month, I wrote in a Memo column that the economic forces that fueled the swell in recycled diamonds in the U.S. have abated, and that after a period of growth, the supply of diamonds from consumers is declining (Recycled Diamonds, Is the Party Over? February 27, 2014). The response to the column was immediate, with many asking for more figures to explain the assertion. Read More...

The sale of Zales to Sterling announced last month did not come as a surprise to many. It looks like one of the final strokes of a long-term consolidation that has occurred in the mall-based jewelry field - in all of retail, actually - since the years of near-rampant expansion in the last century. Read More...

Let’s get straight to the bottom line: at any given moment, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and other grading labs will have some $1.5 billion worth of diamonds in their possession that are not readily available for business. Read More...

The skeptics had a field day when De Beers and the Botswana government announced a 10-year diamond mining and sales agreement in 2011. The Diamond Trading Company (DTC) was committed to transferring many of its operations to Gaborone by the end of 2013 as part of the deal. In return, the miner received a 10-year agreement, instead of the five-year periods which had been the case previously. Read More...