India urges G7 to delay ban on Russian diamonds as rules lack clarity -sources

India has urged the Group of Seven (G7) countries to delay an incoming ban on Russian diamonds because the rules to trace the origins of gems remain unclear, two sources aware of the matter said. India, home to 90% of the world's diamond cutting and polishing industry, is critical to the implementation of the ban. New Delhi has also sought more clarity in its talks with G7 leaders, said the sources, who did not wish to be identified because they are not authorised to talk to the media.

India has urged the Group of Seven (G7) countries to delay an incoming ban on Russian diamonds because the rules to trace the origins of gems remain unclear, two sources aware of the matter said.

India, home to 90% of the world’s diamond cutting and polishing industry, is critical to the implementation of the ban.

New Delhi has also sought more clarity in its talks with G7 leaders, said the sources, who did not wish to be identified because they are not authorised to talk to the media.

Earlier this month, G7 nations announced a direct ban on Russian diamonds starting Jan. 1, followed by phased-in restrictions on indirect imports of Russian gems from around March 1. A new system to trace the origin of the gems will be introduced in September.

Russia is the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds by volume. New restrictions on the trade of Russian gems are part of the bloc’s broader measures designed to limit Moscow’s revenues that aid and fund its invasion of Ukraine.

“The timeline to start restrictions on indirect imports from Russia in three-four months is impractical, as the rules on how the origin for a gem will be traced are not clear,” one of the sources said.

India has also expressed its reservations over G7’s new “traceability-based verification and certification” system, which may require sharing of data about Indian businesses, the first source said.

Some data might be sensitive and businesses might not be comfortable with sharing such information, he said.

The federal trade ministry, which is involved in talks with G7 on proposed restrictions, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

India mostly processes smaller Russian diamonds, and that’s why the country expects minimal trade disruption, a government official said earlier this month.

Still, the proposed ban would impact the diamond supply chain, industry officials say.

India’s diamond sector already faces weaker demand. The country’s polished diamond exports fell 29% to $10 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year that began in April.

It exported polished diamonds worth more than $22 billion last fiscal year that ended on March 31. The industry, based mainly in the western state of Gujarat, employs millions of people across small and medium firms.

Reporting by Shivangi Acharya and Neha Arora

Arkansas man finds 4.87-carat diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park

A Lepanto man just learned he found a 4.87-carat diamond this spring. Jerry Evans visited Crater of Diamonds State Park for the first time this year and within ten minutes of entering the park, he found what he thought was a piece of glass.

A release from the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism says he put the glass in his pocket with the rest of his finds from the day. Evans told the department he and his girlfriend “were picking up everything thinking it was a diamond.”

Eventually, though, Evans couldn’t contain his curiosity and sent the stone to the Gemological Institute of America for identification. A few weeks later, he learned his clear piece of glass was actually a diamond.

Evans told the department that “when they called and told me it was real, I was tickled to death!”

Assistant park superintendent Waymon Cox said it’s not uncommon for people to ask him to identify something they’ve found, but “this is the first time someone has contacted [him] after they’ve had a diamond identified by the GIA.”

Cox said Evans has since taken the diamond back to the park to have it officially registered.

This is the largest find registered at the park since 2020. Kevin Kinard of Maumelle discovered a 9.07-carat brown diamond on Labor Day that year.

The park says Evans has decided to name his diamond the “Evans Diamond”. Many diamond-finders choose to name the diamonds they find at the state park.

Source: 4029tv

108ct. Pink Diamond at Heart of New Partnership

Dubai-based manufacturer Choron has signed an agreement with Storm Mountain Diamonds to cut and polish a 108.39-carat stone from the Kao mine in Lesotho.

Storm Mountain, a joint venture between Namakwa Diamonds and the Lesotho government, recovered the type IIa diamond in March. The stone is one of the largest pink diamonds ever discovered, Storm Mountain said last week.

“Storm Mountain continues to consistently deliver extraordinary diamonds, and this diamond further cements the Kao mine as the primary producer of pink diamonds globally,” said Storm Mountain board chairman Robert Cowley. “We are thrilled to enter into this agreement with Choron, and we look forward to the next chapter of this diamond’s story.”

Storm Diamonds will retain a minority share in the stone, while Choron will manufacture and market it, Choron CEO Anshul Gandhi told Rapaport News. The company has not disclosed the other terms of the partnership.

“It is a privilege for Choron to unlock the secrets within this remarkable pink diamond, and we look forward to revealing the story of this historic diamond,” said Ghandi. “Our artisans will meticulously transform this rough diamond into an array of polished diamonds that will be remembered for generations to come.”

Source: Diamonds.net

Petra Believes Rough Prices Have ‘Bottomed’

Petra Diamonds’ rough prices started to bounce back at its latest tender, indicating the market has “likely bottomed,” it said Thursday.

The company’s third trading session brought in $67.9 million from the sale of 519,397 carats, at an average price of $131 per carat. Prices were 19% higher on a like-for-like basis — comparing similar categories of diamonds — than at the fiscal year’s second tender, which ended in October.

Last week, the miner reported early results from the tender of $58.7 million from 462,794 carats, at an average price of $127 per carat. During the remainder of the tender, it sold an additional 56,600 carats for $9.3 million. That comprised 25,200 carats from the Cullinan and Finsch mines in South Africa, which yielded $3.1 million, and 31,400 carats from the Williamson mine in Tanzania, bringing in $6.2 million.

Total rough-diamond revenue for the first fiscal half, which included three tenders, came to $187.8 million, down 7% year on year, the company noted. Like-for-like prices for the six months fell 13% compared to the equivalent three tenders the year before.

Source: Diamonds.net

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US Polished Imports Fall in October

US polished-diamond imports dropped 21% to $1.5 billion in October, recording a fifth consecutive year-on-year decline, according to recent data from the US Commerce Department. The decrease reflected a fall in the volume of imports as well as a lower average price. Polished imports have not seen a year-on-year rise since May, when the timing of the JCK Las Vegas show prompted an 18% increase.

Source: US Commerce Department data; Rapaport archives.

About the data: The US, the world’s largest diamond retail market, is a net importer of polished. As such, net polished imports — representing polished imports minus polished exports — will usually be a positive number. Net rough imports — calculated as rough imports minus rough exports — will also generally be in surplus. The nation has no operational diamond mines but has a manufacturing sector, so it normally ships more rough in than out. The net diamond account is total rough and polished imports minus total exports. It is the US’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by importing — and ultimately consuming — diamonds.

Source: Diamonds.net

Four Large Lulo Diamonds Bank $17M for Lucapa

Lucapa Diamond Company sold four special-size rough stones with a total weight of 609 carats for $17 million at a recent tender in Angola.

The type IIa diamonds, which weighed 41.23, 123.83, 208.78 and 235.47 carats, were recovered from Lucapa’s Lulo alluvial mine in Angola, the miner said Monday. They were part of a tender by Sodiam, Angola’s national diamond-trading company.

The 235 carat stone, which Lucapa unearthed last month, is the second-largest Lulo has yielded. Meanwhile, the 208 carat, retrieved in October, achieved the highest price of all four diamonds, Lucapa noted. The entire parcel averaged $28,000 per carat.

“The outcome of this tender is very encouraging as it once again clearly indicates the strength of the market for these exceptional, rare and high-value stones of which Lulo is a consistent producer,” said Lucapa managing director Nick Selby. “This is a positive result for Lucapa in a year when the diamond industry generally suffered weakness in pricing.

With India about to resume rough-diamond imports and Russian diamonds potentially having a restricted flow into the market in 2024, we are optimistic that we will see improvement and stability in diamond prices across all sectors of the market in the new year.”

Sodiam’s tenders generally include rough from Lulo, as well as from the Catoca and Luele mines.

Source: Diamonds.net

Anglo American to Cut De Beers’ Overheads by $100M

Roller machine used to separate and sort flat shaped and non- flat shaped rough diamonds. DTC Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.

Anglo American will slash De Beers’ budgets in response to the diamond-market downturn, the parent company said Friday.

“At De Beers, we are taking a different approach as the business has performed very well operationally. What’s gone against us is the market,” Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad said at the group’s annual investor update. “Demand and prices for diamonds have fallen as global GDP [gross domestic product] growth has fallen.”

The current downturn is likely temporary, and there are signs the market is “beginning to turn,” Wanblad added.

“Nonetheless, we are focused on streamlining De Beers, reducing the annual overheads by $100 million in a sustainable manner,” the executive continued. “We have also reduced capex [capital expenditure] for next year, with our investment focused on the highest-value opportunities we see in southern Africa from existing assets as well as on the exploration front.”

De Beers has incurred a loss in the second half of 2023 following sales of just $80 million at the October sight, Wanblad explained. Sightholders expected the recent December trading session to be a similar size.

Still, De Beers kept production steady in the second half of this year leading to an inventory buildup and has maintained its production plan of 29 million to 32 million carats for 2024, said Al Cook, the diamond miner’s CEO.

“We need to be careful with [production cutbacks], because a large number of our costs are fixed,” Cook continued at the same investor event. “So we need to avoid doing something that just disrupts mines, which then take a lot to recover from and doesn’t create the cost savings that you really want to drive out of this.”

The company has a “series of levers” it can pull in 2024 should the expected recovery not materialize and is working with partners in producer countries to identify options, Cook added.

Last week, De Beers announced it was changing its organizational structure and executive committee, with executive vice president and chief brand officer David Prager and acting executive vice president of strategy and innovation Ryan Perry set to leave in 2024.

Source: Diamonds.net

G7 bans Russian diamonds from January in show of solidarity to Zelensky

The Group of Seven (G7) nations will ban direct imports of Russian diamonds starting next year as a punitive measure against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

There will be phased-in restrictions on indirect imports of Russian gems from March, a joint statement on Wednesday after the G7 nations’ meeting said. The measures were announced as Joe Biden and leaders of the G7 countries met Volodymyr Zelensky virtually in a show of solidarity.

The new measures will ensure a ban on non-industrial diamonds from Russia by 1 January and on third-party nations which sell Russian diamonds from March.

The move was being mulled as a part of fresh sanctions by the European Union last month. The G7 will phase in restrictions on indirect imports from a targeted date of March and introduce a “robust traceability-based verification and certification” mechanism for rough diamonds within the G7 by 1 September 2024. The ban excludes diamonds for industrial use.

Russia is the biggest producer of rough diamonds, which are taken from swathes of mines beneath the Siberian permafrost. The trade of precious rock has helped Russia stop from bleeding under economic sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Source: independent.co.uk

Hong Kong Luxury Sales See Further Revival

Hong Kong retail sales rose in October as tourism to the municipality continued to improve and the government implemented initiatives to stimulate the economy.

Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and valuable gifts climbed 27% year on year to HKD 5.1 billion ($653.1 million) for the month, according to data the government’s Census and Statistics Department released Thursday. Retail sales across all product categories increased 6% to HKD 33.77 billion ($4.32 billion).

The growth also reflected a favorable comparison with the same period last year, when the municipality was still operating under strict Covid-19 restrictions, leading to extremely low tourism. Hong Kong derives a large portion of its luxury revenue from tourists — primarily from China — who come to purchase goods. The border between Hong Kong and the mainland reopened at the beginning of the year.

For the first 10 months, proceeds from jewelry, watches, clocks and valuable gifts surged 55% to HKD 50 billion ($6.4 billion). Total retail sales for the period grew 17% to HKD 336.06 billion ($43.03 billion).

In October, 3.5 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong, compared to 80,524 during the same month of 2022. Of those, 2.7 million were from the mainland, versus 47,607 the year before.

“The value of total retail sales increased further in October over a year earlier alongside the continued revival of inbound tourism,” a government spokesperson said. “Further recovery of visitor arrivals should benefit the retail sector. Continued improvement in household income and various activities that bolster the economy, including the ‘Night Vibes Hong Kong’ [events], should also provide support. Yet factors such as tight financial conditions and economic uncertainties could weigh on consumption sentiment.”

Source: diamonds.net

India’s Rough Imports Rise Despite Supply Freeze

India saw a slump in polished-diamond exports but an increase in rough imports in October as global demand remained slow and manufacturers brought goods into the country ahead of a two-month shipment freeze.

Polished exports fell 33% year on year to $1.26 billion, the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) reported earlier this month. Inbound rough shipments rose 9% to $1.02 billion despite a two-month voluntary pause on imports aimed at reducing inventories. The policy came into effect on October 15.

A decline in rough prices ahead of the optional freeze and the Diwali holiday created an opportunity for Indian companies to buy, added GJEPC chairman Vipul Shah.

Sources: Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, Rapaport archives

About the data: India, the world’s largest diamond-cutting center, is a net importer of rough and a net exporter of polished. As such, net polished exports — representing polished exports minus polished imports — will usually be a positive number. Net rough imports — calculated as rough imports minus rough exports — will also generally be in surplus. The net diamond account is total rough and polished exports minus total imports. It is India’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by manufacturing rough into polished.

Source: Diamonds.net