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MID BLOG

Canadian Diamond Firm Gets Reprieve, Future Uncertain

Slowly, a sense of normality appears to be returning to the diamond industry. On November 13, Dominion Diamond Mines announced that 60 of its employees would be heading back to the Ekati mine, 300 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories, after a more than a half-year of activities being suspended at the site.

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De Beers Pushes Phygital Diamond Marketing for Personalization

The term “phygital” has become the buzzword for the year 2020. Essentially referring to a marriage of both online and offline commercial environments, it involves a multichannel approach to creating a more complete and satisfying customer experience, where the consumer moves seamlessly between the digital and brick and mortar worlds.

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Pipeline Report Suggests 2020 Was a Blessing in Disguise

Whereas 2019 and 2020 have shown themselves to a be a game changer for the entire world, the process may have been even more dramatic for the diamond industry, which after a gradual restructuring process finally saw the development of a real demand-driven business, this new environment, the perennially profit-squeezed midstream is more able to act purely in its own “economic, financial, and commercial self-interest, less burdened by producer pressures to ‘relieve” them of their stocks,” write Pranay Narvekar and Chaim-Even-Zohar in the 2020 edition of their annual diamond pipeline report, published by IDEX.

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meghan markle
Lab-Grown Diamonds Gain Traction among Independent Jewelers

In January 2019, the emerging laboratory-grown diamond industry scored a public relations coup when the American wife of Britain’s Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, was spotted in London on her way to a meeting. She was dressed as most would expect from a member of the British family, but what caught the public’ attention were the drop earrings she was wearing. As it transpired, they were set with diamonds that were not natural, but rather had been grown in a lab. If a princess could wear lab-grown diamonds, the pundits asked, why not ordinary people?

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De Beers Invests $94M in Lab-Grown Diamonds

While the future course of the laboratory-grown diamond sector is not yet certain, one organization that is not sitting on the fence is the De Beers Group. Having launched its own laboratory-grown diamond jewelry company in 2018, the company is building a factory in the U.S. State of Oregon that, when at full steam, will be able to turn out up to 500,000 carats per annum.

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Firms Eye Vertical Integration for Efficient Diamond Pipeline

A decision by Alrosa, the Russian diamond mining company, to create a single production framework that encompasses all of its cutting and polishing facilities raises the prospect of vertical integration in the diamond industry, reducing the very fragmented structure of the diamond pipeline, by which diamonds pass through multiple hands on their way from the mine to the retail jeweler.

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Leading Gemologists Tackle Lab-Grown Diamond Grading

On consecutive days, two of the world’s most influential gemological authorities have released information that indicates how gem labs are likely approach the controversial task of evaluating and reporting on the characteristics of individual laboratory-grown diamonds.

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China Luxury Market to Grow 20-30% as West Contracts

While many of the Western luxury markets have been hit hard by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and are expected to decline between 25 percent to 45 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year, and indeed are unlikely to return to pre-coronavirus levels before 2023 or 2024, the situation is very different in China, according to a recently released report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), together with Tencent Marketing Insight.

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Retailers Face Challenges with Longer Season, More Online Sales

With the COVID virus still a very salient factor in all major markets, where at the very least strict containment measures still remain force, retailers are coming to terms with the reality that they will have to approach the coming holidays season differently to how they have in years past, so as to salvage part of what clearly has been a very challenging year.

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First Celebrity Diamond Campaign Ship at 2020 Emmy Awards

In early September, NDC announced the imminent debut of a new global advertising campaign, called “For Moments Like No Other.” Filmed in July in coastal Portugal, the campaign celebrates the many emotional connections created by diamond jewelry, something that research shows will resonate strongly as the world emerges from the current COVID crisis.

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ISO 24016
ISO Endorses First-Ever Polished Diamond Grading System

One of the lesser known facts about diamond grading was that there did not exists an internationally agreed to system by which it was carried out, nor even professional requirements for someone presenting himself or herself as a diamond grader. That was the case until September 2020, when the International Standards Organisation published ISO 24016, the first-ever standard approved by the body.

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Israel and UAE Finalize Diamond Bourse Cooperation Deal

History was made on the lawns of the White House in Washington, D.C., when on September 15, 2020, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement with the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, normalizing relations between the Jewish state and the two Arabian Gulf countries. Just two days later, the impact of the deal became apparent, when the Middle East’s two largest diamond bourses, the Israel Diamond Exchange and the Dubai Diamond Exchange, signed their own strategic agreement of collaboration.

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U.S. – EU Trade War Threatens LVMH and Tiffany Mega-Deal

The mega-deal of the century, which many predicted would reshape the high-end jewelry retail market, looks like it is faltering, with the luxury brand juggernaut LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE announcing on September 9 that it would be it was backing out of its $16.2 billion takeover of Tiffany & Co.

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Rio Tinto Releases Final Argyle Fancy Color Collection

Entitled “One Lifetime, One Encounter,” referencing the closure of the iconic mine, the 2020 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender is a collection of the rarest diamonds from a year’s production at the site in the remote east Kimberley region of Western Australia. It includes 62 diamonds with a total weight of 57.23 carats.

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China’s Control Sparks Concerns Over Hong Kong’s Future

A report in the Indian media published September 2, 2020, confirmed by a source at the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai, was enlightening. It concerned what was said to be “a large number of Indian diamond traders,” who had been arrested in mainland China for allegedly smuggling in polished diamonds. Their reason for doing so was to avoid paying a 6 percent import tax levied by the Chinese government on diamonds brought into the country.

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The 12.11 carat fancy intense blue diamond that sold at Christie’s for $15.8 million. (Photo courtesy of Christie’s)
High-End Diamonds Surge at Auctions Amid COVID-19

Since the start of the coronavirus epidemic during the first quarter of the year, the world’s two largest rough diamond suppliers, De Beers and Alrosa, have consistently resisted calls to reduce the price of rough diamonds. At the same time, both companies relaxed rules governing their customers, allowing then to cherry-pick and even refuse merchandise offered during the regular sales cycles.

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De Beers and Alrosa Cut Rough Diamond Prices

Since the start of the coronavirus epidemic during the first quarter of the year, the world’s two largest rough diamond suppliers, De Beers and Alrosa, have consistently resisted calls to reduce the price of rough diamonds. At the same time, both companies relaxed rules governing their customers, allowing then to cherry-pick and even refuse merchandise offered during the regular sales cycles.

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Tiffany & Co. Makes Diamond Traceability Central to Strategy

One of the world’s most recognizable jewelry brands, Tiffany & Co., has announced that it will be making diamond traceability a central component of it marketing strategy, by mapping out for customers the journey taken by any polished stone larger than 0.18 carats, from the mine through to the retail store.

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