Diamond News Archives

(IDEX Online) - Jewelry retailers in China are expanding their operations as post-pandemic sales surge.

Chow Tai Fook opened 543 new stores in the second half of 2020, a sign of its confidence in the post-Covid recovery.  It now has of 4,442 retail outlets and saw sales volumes increased by 17.5 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Lukfook recorded a net increase of 225 mainland stores in the year, to a total of 2,249.

Sales of jewelry have been increasing on mainland China since July 2020, says the Guangzhou Diamond Exchange.  The biggest growth has been in the luxury sector, it says.

Domestic retail sales of gold, silver and jewelry products had been in decline before the pandemic, but have been rallying ever since.

Sales in November 2020 totaled almost $4bn, the highest figure since 2015.

"Since 2018, the monthly retail sales of gold, silver and jewelry products had been lower than the same period in the preceding years. In July 2020, however, when jewelry consumption began to rebound, it saw a year-on-year growth trend not seen for a long time," says the Exchange in its report on China's domestic jewelry industry.

Most jewelry stores reopened in the second quarter of 2020 as China emerged early from restrictions, and retail confidence has been building ever since.

Pic shows a Chow Tai Fook store...

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa says it has allocated $11.5m this year towards a social fund for residents in Yakutia (Republic of Sakha), one of its main areas of operation.

The money will go towards building new cultural, educational, healthcare, and sports facilities, as well as environmental protection.

The Russian state-owned miner, which has open-pit, underground mining and alluvial operations in the region, says it is also contributing $2m towards providing clean water clean water for residents of the Vilyui group of districts and the settlement of Zhigansk.

Alrosa, the world's biggest diamond producer by volume, has given $97m to Special Fund for Future Generations since 2011 and is its primary donor. 

"Over the past five years, 13 social facilities have been built using the company's funds and more than 150 major projects have been implemented in Yakutia," said Alexey Diyachkovsky, Alrosa's Deputy CEO.

Pic shows drilling of blast holes in the Yubileyny open-pit mine, Yakutia...