Exclusive
Diamond market crash is Africa’s opportunity, not its crisis – M'zée Fula Ngenge
Global natural diamond supply is forecast to fall below 95 million carats this year, the lowest since 1987. For Dr. M'zée Fula Ngenge, chairperson of the African Diamond Council (ADC), this is not a death knell but a clarion call. In an exclusive...
Yesterday
Tracr passes 5 million rough diamonds milestone as De Beers expands provenance push
De Beers Group's blockchain-enabled traceability platform Tracr reached a significant milestone in 2025, with more than 5 million rough diamonds individually scanned and registered, up from 2.8 million cumulative registrations reported in 2024. The...
28 september 2026
South African diamonds head to Hong Kong: SDT partners with BRINKS for JGW 2026
South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) has confirmed the country's participation in Jewellery & Gem World Hong Kong (JGW) 2026 through a partnership with BRINKS. SDT marketing and communication manager Tsholofelo Gopolang Tselapedi...
14 september 2026
David Benderly: PermaScribe seeks to put trust mark on diamond table, not just girdle
In this interview with Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa, PhotoScribe Technologies president and chief executive David Benderly explains how PermaScribe differs technically from conventional laser inscription, its potential to strengthen security, and...
31 august 2026
The great reset: Paul Zimnisky on supply catharsis, De Beers' bargain and the case for natural diamonds
The natural diamond industry is in the throes of its most profound reset in a generation. Supply is plunging to its lowest level since 1987 and De Beers—once valued at over $9 billion—is reportedly being sold for as little as $1 billion.
Lab-grown...
10 august 2026
Israel as a global diamond centre
27 january 2020
Israel is one of the diamond hubs - a centre where not only rough and polished diamonds are traded, but also the diamond manufacture, especially of large-sized stones, is maintained. The Israeli cutting companies are at the cutting edge in the world, they are equipped with the most up-to-date equipment, which is very sophisticated and developed mainly in the country. The Israeli technological advances, such as diamond cutting lasers, roughing machines, automatic grinding machines and CAD systems are used today throughout the global diamond industry.
Will precious stones in Russia be set “free from restraint"?
20 january 2020
Speaking skeptically about the liberality of Federal Law 41-ФЗ “On Precious Metals and Precious Stones” (hereinafter referred to as “Law 41-ФЗ”) enacted on 03.03.1998 with respect to the circulation of precious stones, I allowed some simplification in my previous articles without going into the smaller details of the legal regulation governing this industry branch. In fact, the main prohibitive role in this regulation was played not by Law 41-ФЗ itself, but by-laws adopted on its basis and with a purpose to further develop it. This simplification did not have much significance, because the effect was still integral in nature. But when the “regulatory guillotine” came into the scene, it became clear that this project is a unique “window of opportunity” for eliminating the entire regulatory overlay, which makes the conditions for real work on the market of precious metals and precious stones entirely improper, however using for this the relatively decent legislative industry norms. So, it becomes all the more urgent to raise these “nuances” now, when the Ministry of Finance of Russia itself proposes to add the by-laws that actually block the normal retail circulation of precious stones in the Russian market to the list of decrees, which cease to be in force.
China's third way in the global diamond business
09 january 2020
The rapid social and economic development of China in recent decades has allowed this country to become one of the world leaders and centers of power. China currently holds key positions in the world in the production and consumption of the most important mineral raw materials. The diamond market is not an exception, in which China, having surpassed Japan, confidently ranks second behind the USA. With a further increase in the well-being of the population, and having an enormous potential in increasing the consumption of luxury goods, the country has every chance to take first place in future both in the consumption of diamonds and diamond jewelry and in the production of laboratory-grown diamonds (LGD). Moreover, now in China, the production of the LGDs for technical purposes has reached stratospheric levels and their cost has decreased so much that the diamond mining for technical purposes is already a thing of the past.
A Year Not to Remember
30 december 2019
As the industry is closing for the New Year holidays, it is the right moment to reflect back on the past year and look forward to what that future will bring us. 2019 certainly was a remarkable year but for many, but not a year to remember.
FATF Recommendations and fight for cleanliness of financial market in Russia
23 december 2019
No one doubts that terrorism is awful and laundering of illicit income is bad. But why should the accomplices of terrorists, corrupt officials and all sorts of fraudsters be considered fools ready to launder their fraudulent gains through tools unsuitable for this purpose, which obviously leads to the loss of most of their cash? Money laundering through jewellery? Doing this in an era when cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly more accessible and the liquidity of jewellery in the secondary market is getting lower and lower? Let's see if we are not ‘going too far’ in the fight for the cleanliness of our financial market when it comes to controlling the circulation of jewellery in compliance with the requirements of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (hereinafter referred to as AML/CFT). To begin with, we will analyze recommendations made by the FATF in its document entitled “International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation – the FATF Recommendations”.
Will the crisis unfold in the global diamond market?
16 december 2019
This year, a well-known global diamond business analyst, Chaim Even-Zohar, published the structure of the global diamond pipeline in 2018 (Diamond Pipeline 2018. IDEX Magazine No. 4, April 2018). This time, such enterprises as ALROSA, De Beers and others appeared in it. The fast-growing market for synthetic rough and polished diamonds is shown, which already accounts for 5% of the natural market. The forecast for 2018 on the natural diamonds sales was $15 bn, and the value for cutting diamonds in Russia was $300 mn.
Have Tiffany and the diamond market parted their ways?
09 december 2019
LVMH, the global luxury giant with a French residence permit, acquires US-based Tiffany clinching the industry’s largest deal worth $ 16.2 billion. The purchase will not only strengthen the position of LVMH in the jewelry business and provide access to a wider consumer network in the United States and Asia, but may affect the perception and value of diamonds, which are the main jewelry component in terms of cost. At first glance, the purchase of Tiffany may be explained by the fact that the major owner of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, who is second only to Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates on the list of the world’s richest people, sees great prospects for diamond jewelry demand. But we may equally assume that Tiffany, accepting the offer of absorption with a premium of no more than 10% of its current quotes and abandoning independence, either does not see such prospects or regards them as very moderate.
Indian diamond industry in a balancing act
02 december 2019
The Indian gem and jewellery industry, though known for its resilience, has for some years now struggling to stay afloat as it faced challenges galore…demand down, rough prices up, bank finance tight, high import taxes and what have you.
So, what will the “regulatory guillotine” chop off?
25 november 2019
It seems that the theme of the “regulatory guillotine” is here to stay for a long time. Earlier it was told how it all began. The idea gоt a lot of play, and in a new round it became clear: the Government of the Russian Federation made the final decision irrevocably - a “regulatory guillotine” in the PMPS sphere will be introduced. The request made by the Ministry of Finance of Russia for the non-extension of the “regulatory guillotine” mechanism to the sphere of the state federal assay supervision and to the federal state control when importing the PMPS into the Russian Federation from states outside the EAEU, and when exporting them from the RF to states outside the EAEU, found no understanding in the government.
Purification through pain
18 november 2019
This last October, the diamond market sentiment worsened due to weak September metrics from major shopping centers and a slump in jewelry sales in Hong Kong and mainland China. Diamond miners gave very cautious forecasts, from which we can conclude that a recovery in diamond demand by the end of this year is unlikely. ALROSA announced the need to seriously regulate rough supply next year in order to improve the market. The Russia-based company, unlike De Beers and Rio Tinto, could not cut production this year, but it is ready to adjust production targets by 10-15% in 2020. These measures can stabilize the diamond pipeline as early as next year, but rapid growth after this is not guaranteed at all, experts say.
