Diamond News Archives

Mike Maloney 
DEC 18, 2018

(IDEX Online) – Russian diamond miner ALROSA reported that global jewelry sales rose 4% overall in the third quarter of 2018.<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

North America, the largest diamond jewelry market, showed a 4% sales increase in Q3 compared to the same period last year. "According to key retailers, stable growth was driven by increased demand from the local population," the firm said.

"In the Asia Pacific, including South East Asia and India, a slowdown in sales growth to 3% in Q3 was tied to the overall external economic environment. China remains the key sales driver in the region thanks to the continued expansion of national retailers in the country's mainland market. Many global retailers in China, in their turn, are adjusting their pricing strategies to increasing customs duties and depreciating local currency.

"Changes are also taking place in the Indian market, where major players are still struggling to restore their reputation and regain buyers' confidence in the authenticity of diamond jewelry. There is an ongoing market redistribution, with large highly organized retail networks gradually taking market share from smaller ones and increasing their presence through expansion and franchising. However, the bulk of the market is still dominated by small retailers, who are now encountering difficulties, which negatively affects the overall market performance. The decline in sales in the country is also caused by the weakening of the national currency. In other countries, sales are driven primarily by domestic demand, showing an aggregate growth of 2%.

Despite the external economic pressure associated with the depreciation of national currencies against the US dollar, demand for diamond jewelry remains stable, ALROSA said. ...

De Beers Group is pleased to announce it has officially launched its education partnership with the National Gemstone Testing Centre (NGTC), China’s leading authority in the testing and inspection of gems and jewellery, extending the accessibility of De Beers Group’s diamond education courses to students in China.

The partnership, which was officially launched at the Beijing Jewellery Show in China on 13 December, will provide a variety of diamond education courses, supporting the needs of multiple groups across the diamond industry. Courses will focus on a range of content, including:

• Insight into the diamond pipeline from start to finish, supporting the ability of participants to develop knowledge for commercial purposes, such as with sales presentations in a retail environment.
• Lab-based courses to examine how to grade polished diamonds to a professional standard.
• Synthetic diamond detection techniques so that students can effectively identify synthetic stones.

Jonathan Kendall, President of De Beers Group Industry Services, said: “It is a great honour to be collaborating with the NGTC to bring China a set of top quality educational courses. These courses have been designed to appeal to a full range of people – from those who wish to simply learn about diamonds and the diamond industry to those working in the industry, from manufacturing to retailing, who wish to extend their knowledge to be more successful in their careers. We look forward to helping people in China develop their skills and supporting the development of the Chinese jewellery industry to achieve its full potential in the years ahead.”

Mr Sun Fengmin, Vice Director of National Gems & Jewellery Technology Administrative Centre, said: “ We are honoured to partner with the world's leading diamond company, De Beers Group, who will share their...

Traders from across the U.S. are banding together to accuse J. P. Morgan Chase of manipulating precious metals markets for years.

At least six lawsuits, all making similar allegations against the nation's largest bank, have been filed in New York federal court in the past month, since federal prosecutors in Connecticut unveiled a plea agreement^[1] with a former J. P. Morgan Chase metals trader.

The cases could potentially include thousands of people who traded in the precious metals market. The White Plains, N.Y., law firm Lowey Dannenberg is asking the court to combine the cases and name it as the lead.

The law firm's commodities group is led by Vincent Briganti, the attorney who filed the first lawsuit on behalf of Dominick Cognata, a New York resident who alleges he suffered losses due to J. P. Morgan's trading conduct in the silver and gold futures and options markets.

A combined case, seeking class action status, would include anyone who purchased or sold futures contracts or an option on NYMEX platinum or palladium or COMEX silver or gold between at least Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2015. The lawyers believe that "at least hundreds, if not thousands" of traders would be eligible to join the case.

Named as defendants in all of the lawsuits are John Edmonds, a 36-year old former metals trader at J. P. Morgan, a group of yet-to-be-identified precious metals traders and the bank.

Edmonds, a New York resident, pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to defraud the market and manipulate prices of precious metals futures contracts and one count of commodities fraud. In the criminal plea, Edmonds admitted that he and other "unnamed co-conspirators" at J. P. Morgan, fraudulently manipulated...