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
Critical mass of secondary market
27 march 2017
Imagine an automobile market, in which cars do not become obsolete and are not being disposed of for half a century. Every year, we see millions of new vehicles coming off assembly lines, but all those produced earlier are still on the market, their features are unchanged and they are bought and sold. Obviously, such a market is doomed - the steadily growing mass of goods will weigh on the price until it turns out to be below the prime cost and the manufacturer will be ruined. In what way is this pattern different from the modern market of natural diamonds? In the same way as a diamond cut, for example, by Smolensk’s Kristall in 1967 is different from a diamond cut there yesterday. That is, in no way at all.
Dull name, important task: generic marketing critical to industry's future
20 march 2017
How do I sell more diamonds, a diamond trader recently asked me. Why don't we see global promotion of diamond jewelry so that more diamonds are sold? How can diamonds compete with the latest iPhone, cute tablet or round-the-world trip? Does the younger generation, such as those born after 1980, regard diamond jewelry as a must-have item? Are we leaving the field open to manufacturers of lab-grown diamonds who can supply stones at lower prices while appealing to young people with claims of producing environmentally friendly goods not tainted by blood diamond issues and not dug out of the ground by allegedly wretched, oppressed and impoverished workers?
Synthetics: cheaper but more expensive
13 march 2017
Twenty-five percent. It is exactly by that amount you will pay less for a ‘mass-consumption’ natural diamond ring compared with minimum prices offered by vendors of synthetics.
The biggest and best International Diamond Week in Israel
06 march 2017
If there was element that wasn't missing from the Sixth International Diamond Week in Israel (IDWI) at the Israel Diamond Exchange's (IDE) trading hall held from February 13 to 16, it was action. Right from the opening, the IDE organized a wide range of activities in order to make a big impression on visitors – as well as via a big social media campaign which started a few months before the event. And its efforts were rewarded with some 400 buyers from 30 countries, including the United States, U.K., Germany, China and India, and over 200 diamond companies exhibiting from Israel and abroad who, together with many hundreds of guests, ensured that the trading hall was packed out for the week.
Is Branding a Smart Strategy or Expensive Exercise?
27 february 2017
Which items sell better – branded goods or generic items? For many years after the 2008 financial crash, the answer appeared to be overwhelmingly generic. The vast decline in wealth among huge numbers of people across the United States meant there was little money left for luxuries. The same was true across Europe. Indeed, so deep did the recession bite that consumers searched for generic for most items – from breakfast cereals and washing powder all the way up to jewelry and other so-called luxury items. And although the U.S. economy is in much better shape today, the tendency to look for generic items remains strong. Although unemployment has declined significantly, many workers still do not have the bargaining power to secure salary rises – meaning disposable income is pretty much static. Against that sort of background, companies are asking themselves if there is a point to launching new brands – and that applies to the diamond jewelry business as much as any other.
Non-governmental Trojan ponies
22 february 2017
In February, the International Grown Diamond Association (IGDA) has lived to be exactly one year old. However, there is no much fanfare audible - this modest jubilee has been slipped over by the industry media, regrettably. Because the birth of the IGDA has undoubtedly opened a new chapter in the history of the traditional diamond market. Maybe - the last chapter.
India stirred but not shaken by demonetisation
20 february 2017
It is more than two months since demonetisation of high-value currency notes in India took effect, but the resilient gems & jewellery industry, though stirred, stands strong and stoic in the face of adversity. Obviously, the luxury sector of which the gem & jewellery industry is part of would be the first sector to get hit due to discretionary consumer spending acutely affecting the retail market. Industry-wise, it is of course the SMEs (small & medium size enterprises) that have been negatively impacted as they trade with majorly small jewellery players in the unorganised players who deal in hard cash. It is reported that local demand for rough as well as polished diamonds declined in December indicating a 4.96% dip in rough imports. Even diamonds miners reported a slowdown in demand for lower-value rough (mostly imported by India) during the past 2 months, due to liquidity issues among SMEs.
From Siberia with love
13 february 2017
Hello, dear Keanu Reeves, writing to you is a simple Russian girl, Elena from a small town in Siberia. I'm a big fan of your creative work and always take delight every time I see your new film. And when I learned that you are going to play the leading part in the film named "Siberia" about illegal diamond trade in Russia, there was just no limit to my happiness. What a mercy it is that a great actor is to play in a film about my country! I am so overwhelmed that I decided to write this letter to you.
Self-harm
06 february 2017
All last year, the entire diamond industry was riveted to the scandal in the Kimberley Process (KP) - someone feeling indignation, some being puzzled, and some openly sympathizing. It was the first time in the history of KP that it was declared a boycott by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) within the Civil Society Coalition (CSC). Disagreed with the chairmanship of Dubai in KP, they put forward demands and did not stint on accusations. Against this background, various reflections on the activities and future of the Kimberley Process, which usually do not interest the average man in the street, once again hit the pages of international press. I hope no one of the industry stakeholders will get hurt if I will voice the well-known truth: When the chairmanship of Dubai in KP ceased and moved to Australia, the majority in the industry was relieved. It is not because the activities of the United Arab Emirates as Chairman of KP was not appreciated (on the contrary, many considered this period of KP existence to be one of the most effective), but simply because any conflict situation is exhausting and hampers constructive work in one way or another. However, these hopes for a peaceful life were premature. At the end of last week, CSC met for a regular closed meeting to discuss (according to the agenda, which is available at Rough&Polished) KP’s complete inefficiency and raise the question of delivering new ultimatums or completely withdrawing from this organization. We do not yet know what was the outcome of this meeting. But the fact is that this story seems less and less like an attempt to improve the activities of KP or the situation in the diamond trade in the UAE, while it looks more and more like a banal massive PR-campaign organized to achieve quite other goals.
Diamond de-industrialization
30 january 2017
Analysts are unanimous in asserting that public welfare in recent years has been growing across the world, saying that if this is so, demand for jewelry is growing as well. Meanwhile, diamond consumption and diamond prices are inexorably going south in the last few years. However, the market of luxury goods, including jewelry, does not show any significant fall, staying at the same level year after year. If jewelry demand is really growing, what are people buying instead of diamonds? For a long time, we have been passionately surveying the market of synthetic diamonds and its aggressive marketing. Against this background, we lost sight of another interesting market - the market of colored gemstones, which, seemingly staying in the shadows, demonstrates rapid growth. And the emergence of another strong player on the jewelry market makes the overall situation even more complicated and confusing.
