WINC 478, June 16, 2024

Welcome to edition 478 of WINC,

IDMA's Weekly Internet News Collection - June 16, 2024

Dear IDMA Members and Industry colleagues,

Our President, Ronnie VanderLinden, is also Vice President of the World Diamond Council (WDC) and will be its next WDC President.

Naturally, Ronnie is passionate about the WDC and its work. Therefore, he urges all IDMA members and industry colleagues to be aware that by September 21, 2024, all rough diamond sales will need to be accompanied by invoices or memos that include the revised WDC System of Warranty statement. The original statement will no longer be valid.

How do we transition to the revised SOW?

After successfully submitting your self-assessment, you will receive a unique identification number. You can also display it on invoices and memos so that business partners can confirm your compliance with SoW Guidelines.

If you need help, a complete toolkit is available in the Resources Section of the SoW website. You can also set up a Zoom session for individual support by emailing the WDC hotline at sow.helpdesk@worlddiamondcouncil.org.

Have a great week!

The IDMA Office Team

For diamonds, it matters who De Beers hooks up with next: Assets like De Beers don’t come up for sale often. Minus the mines, cash-rich luxury tycoons might snap it up for the power of the brand alone. Perhaps the company should be broken apart, just like its owner Anglo American. Natural diamonds won’t necessarily be forever unless De Beers makes a good match.

How the world’s two biggest diamond companies are plotting against the rise of lab-grown gems: ‘Buyer beware’: In May, Signet Jewelers — the world’s biggest diamond retailer, with chains that include Jared, Zales, Kay and Blue Nile — began printing a “buyer beware” disclaimer of sorts on the receipts of all of its lab grown diamond sales, warning customers that the bauble they bought could plummet in value.

Selling De Beers is high jeopardy for Anglo boss, analysts say: “We believe there is a good chance that De Beers is still in Anglo American come 2026,” said Ben Davis, an analyst for investment bank Liberum. Given continued inventories in the midstream, the cutters and polishers, it won’t be until 2025 at the earliest that diamond prices improve meaningfully, said Marina Calero, an analyst for Canadian investment bank, RBC Capital Markets. De Beers is a complex business to unravel. Structurally it is complicated, given its joint ventures with Botswana principally, as well as Namibia.

Alrosa CEO urges BRICS nations to unite for global economic influence: “BRICS is the institution where we can shape a common agenda, policy, and game rules to promote our interests around the world. Together, we are a force that cannot be ignored by anyone. Together, we must shape the principles and rules of free trade worldwide,” Marinychev stated. The session's main focus was the creation of a discussion platform between the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA) and BRICS+. The key issues discussed at this platform included fair distribution of value added, attracting investments, R&D, and harmonisation of practices and knowledge transfer.

De Beers’ other plans: expanded retail, new polished division: “De Beers will subcontract manufacturers to turn a minority of its rough stones into polished diamonds for sale in its own-brand stores and other independent retail channels,” reported the FT. “This is a change from the current setup, where it sells rough diamonds to a select group of customers and buys them back as polished stones.”

Alrosa secures top-tier AAA credit rating from ACRA

This rating signifies the highest level of creditworthiness on the national scale, paired with a stable outlook, marking a first in Alrosa’s history.

KP Chair meets with joint secretary, commerce dept. to discuss KP initiatives

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chair of the KP for 2024, met with Siddharth Mahajan, focal point of the KPCS in India, for discussions that underscored the collaborative efforts in advancing KP objectives.

Star Diamond Corp anticipates ‘decades of mining’ at Fort à la Corne

Kimberlite located east of Prince Albert in the Fort à la Corne forest has the ability to produce type IIa diamonds, which are among the rarest and most valuable earth-grown diamonds in the world.

De Beers’ CEO on Lightbox, polished and Anglo American

He explained how De Beers would be manufacturing natural rough diamonds via contractors, and commented on the impending separation from parent company Anglo American.

Amish Shah wants lab-grown and natural diamond industries to work together

“Are we done with the nonsense? Let’s work together,” Shah told JCK at the JCK Las Vegas show, where he was promoting three new lab-grown jewelry collections and marketing lab-grown diamonds as an important contributor to the growth of fine jewelry.

Ellendale heritage survey completed, reports Gibbs River

The survey provides heritage clearance to restart mining over the main areas at £9 being targeted for re-establishing diamond production at Ellendale.

URA appoints Bonas Group as sales partner, qualifies as DelGatto client

URA Holdings has appointed Bonas Group as its sales partner to market and sell rough emeralds recovered from the company’s Gravelotte emerald mine (GEM) in South Africa.

Petra Diamonds - Conclusion of wage agreement with NUM

Petra announces that it has concluded a five-year wage agreement with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) covering its South African operations for the period 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029

De Beers urges one-year extension to G7 ‘Sunrise Period’

In the current “sunrise period,” which started March 1 and runs through September 1, the US is requiring importers to provide their own declarations that the diamonds they’re importing are not of Russian origin.

Why diamond merchants are placing bets on incoming surge of wedding engagements

Industry data are pointing to a resurgence in wedding engagements, according to experts. Signet — the jewelry giant that owns chains that include Jared, Zales, Kay and Blue Nile — is expecting the ‘I do’s’ to grow by as much as 10% this year.

Massive diamond ring blew past estimates Bonhams’s New York Jewels Auction

A diamond ring featuring a 12.2-carat deep brownish pinkish orange stone with VS1 clarity, estimated at just $400,000 to $600,000, pulled in a whopping $1.9 million.

45-carat yellow diamond withdrawn from Phillips auction

The withdrawal comes about a month after another yellow diamond, also advertised as a headlining lot, never made its appearance at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva.

Van Cleef & Arpels necklace from 1929 sells for $3.6m at auction

Following a six-minute battle among seven bidders, it sold to Catharine Becket, Sotheby’s head of Magnificent Jewels, for $3.6 million, three times its highest pre-sale estimate of $1.2 million.

10-carat pink diamond sells for $13m at Christie’s

The Eden Rose,” a fancy intense pink diamond weighing a little over 10 carats, appeared at auction for the first time Tuesday, headlining Christie’s “Magnificent Jewels” sale in New York. An unnamed buyer paid $13.3 million for the stone.

Chow Tai Fook posts double-digit revenue, profit growth

In Hong Kong and Macau, RSV grew 32.0 per cent and 53.2 per cent respectively, supported by the sustained recovery of inbound tourism. Mainland China registered a 17.3 per cent RSV increase

Gemfields appoints former De Beers boss as board chair

Cleaver, who led the diamond firm for six years, compared Gemfields’ recent development to De Beers’ founding role, adding that natural rubies produced by Gemfields had “transcended” laboratory-grown equivalents.

The National Association of Jewelry Appraisers (NAJA) has announced the 62nd ACE©IT Mid-Year Conference will be held August 10-12, 2024, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

Gemfields registers early resource for Mozambique gold prospect

“Clearly the fact we haven’t walked away and are still continuing to spend some money suggests we believe it is worth doing so,” said Gemfields CEO Sean Gilbertson of Nairoto.

Jewelers for Children holds 2024 Facets of Hope event

Jewelers for Children (JFC) also announced donations of over $1 million to 6 nonprofit partners. Some of these partners have been grantees of JFC for 25 years, and received over $14 million dollars each since JFC began. This brings JFC’s total giving for the last 26 years to $62 million.

Americans are getting pickier, but they are still spending on hot items

But big-ticket items, particularly related to living spaces, fell off consumers' shopping lists. Sales of electronics fell 1.9% for the quarter, while homeware purchases dropped 4.2% during the first quarter, versus the year earlier period.

From the World Diamond Council

The band-aid solution that kept going, for 11 years: The Kimberley Process family at the KP Intersessional in Dubai, UAE, in May 2024. After 11 years having been served by the Administrative Support Mechanism (ASM), it was the first major gathering of KP members to take place with the support of a Permanent Secretariat. The 2012 Kimberley Process Plenary in Washington, D.C., at which the ASM was formally introduced to the KP membership. (Photo credit: Kimberley Process)

The State of the Consumer

What’s now and what’s next: If you think you know consumer behavior, think again. Middle-income consumers are feeling the squeeze and worrying about inflation but aren’t holding back on splurges. Rather than sticking to tight budgets in retirement, aging consumers are splurging too. Speaking of older shoppers, it turns out that the brand loyalty they’ve long been known for is a thing of the past. And young consumers in Asia and the Middle East are more likely than those in Western markets to switch to higher-priced brands.

On a lighter note...

De Beers hangs on to the artworks in Anglo American divorce: During the divorce of any rich couple eventually comes the crucial question: who keeps the art? There are some some jawdropping works on display at the joint London headquarters of mining giant Anglo American and diamond group De Beers. Just walking out of the sixth-floor toilets brings you face-to-face with one of the famous David Hockney swimming pool paintings.

Podcast

The Jewelry District, Episode 123: Live from JCK: In this episode, JCK editor-in-chief Victoria Gomelsky and news director Rob Bates play excerpts from interviews they did live on the show floors during Las Vegas Jewelry Week. They checked in with the CEOs of John Hardy, the Natural Diamond Council, GIA, and Tracr, as well as other industry leaders, about the future of natural diamonds, the latest on Russian diamond sanctions, trends shaping consumers’ taste in jewelry, and more. Interviewees also discuss takeaways from the JCK Sustainability Summit, including the drawbacks of greenhushing and the power of collective action for a greener future.

In Memoriam

Bernd Munsteiner, inventor of the fantasy-cut gemstone movement, dies at 81: “Munsteiner’s pieces were cut so artistically, with notches in the back, that they used light in a different way and made us look at the gems differently. The style opened up the way we appreciated and loved gemstones.”

DISCLAIMER: IDMA's Weekly Internet/Online News Collection (WINC) features third-party articles and links to these articles. IDMA presents these news items for reference only. The content of these articles neither reflects nor expresses IDMA's position or point of view.

IDMA's Weekly Internet News Collection - June 16, 2024 ﻿