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esperluette

If you can’t beat them, try again with their weapons

Many diamond jewelry retailers suffered from low traffic, stunted sales and reduced turnover this summer. With all that time on their hands, hopefully they took the opportunity to think in earnest about the upcoming holiday season and how to prepare for it. Since all these retailers are hoping for the same thing – good consumer […]

Advertising diamonds

Sanjay Kothari is on a mission. As vice chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), he took every opportunity at the recent India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) to stress the need for effective generic advertising in the diamond industry.

India matters

The annual India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) has surprisingly set the tone for what followed in the global diamond market in the past two years by going against the grain of expectation.

Botswana Rises

There was a buzz emanating from Botswana this week felt well beyond its borders as De Beers launched its aggregation activities in Gaborone and Okavango Diamond Company finally appointed a managing director. Considering that Botswana is bound to set a number of milestones along its journey to establishing its diamond trading hub in Gaborone, these […]

The Rough Reality of 2012‎

The 2011 global production data published by the Kimberley Process (KP) last week ‎presented a vastly different market scenario than what is the reality today. Then again, a ‎very different atmosphere has engulfed the industry in the past seven months, ‎influencing a drop in demand for rough and its resulting polished.

High-End Caution

There is somewhat of a dichotomy present in the high-end diamond sector. While the ‎European luxury jewelry and watch companies continue to post strong growth, suppliers ‎of diamonds used by this sector have noted a sharp slowdown in demand. ‎

Lower Diamond Production

Predicting the diamond market can be tricky at times, particularly for those on the supply ‎side of the pipeline. Miners, generally loath to scale down operations, have ‎understandably been treading cautiously in 2012.‎ The pledge made last week by De Beers to monitor production in line with sightholder ‎demand, should therefore not be taken lightly.

Matter of Taste

Here are a few facts: Polished diamond sales are down, rough is expensive, financing is below needs or bares high interest, the European economic outlook is grim, generic marketing is nonexistent, the prevalent price list is out of whack, in China GDP is growing but the pace is slowing, in India the exchange rate is […]

Botswana takes the next step

Does the DTC move to Botswana, the launch of the government’s own sights and a burgeoning polishing industry ensure long-term economic stability for the country? Botswana, along with its diamond-dependent economy, finds itself on the brink. After years of planning and negotiations, Botswana’s capital city of Gaborone is about to assume the position of the […]