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...
12 october 2026
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
Forevermark Diamonds Marketing Campaign in the United States a Success
04 march 2013
What is the best marketing strategy for diamond jewellery in the 21st century? Exactly the one that De Beers has been following for almost a hundred years, if we look at the new Forevermark Diamonds campaign in the United States.
Beyond the four Cs: adding value to diamonds
25 february 2013
The presence of an objective evaluation of diamonds based solely on their physical characteristics has left very few possibilities for producers and dealers to add value to their products in other ways. Yet in the last decade, with the fall of the De Beers’ monopoly and the end of generic advertisement on diamond goods, the industry developed a series of strategies aimed at increasing diamond value and, even more important, at creating a sort of protected, exclusive market that could cut off potential competitors that offer similar products.
Market review: Revisiting January results
18 february 2013
Maybe it is not entirely correct to look back at January in the end of February. But the analysis of January results produced by trade in rough diamonds gives rise to contradictory feelings. In first approximation, the picture is quite simple: the small sight run by De Beers led to shortages of goods, due to which boxes in the secondary market finally started to be traded at a premium promising a rise in prices for rough diamonds. But a closer look brings about a host of questions.
Festive season sales in the U.S. turned out not too festive
11 february 2013
On the festive Christmas evening of December 24 buyers in one of the main shopping areas of San Diego, CA, who put off their gift purchases to the last minute, make a hasty promenade visiting boutiques. One of the stores selling Apple gadgets has no room to swing a cat – it is overcrowded with customers eager to see new versions of phones and tablets. Next door there is a jewelry boutique of a famous brand. Apart from the bored guard, it is completely empty. This picture as it was seen by the correspondent of Rough&Polished, is a good illustration of the holyday shopping season in the United States in the end of 2012, which, unfortunately, was not heartening to most jewelers.
Market Report: Rough Time for Polished
04 february 2013
Once the new year is in, you always want to live in a new way. From January, someone starts to lead a healthy lifestyle (or swears to do so by all means). Someone dreams of another job and someone about an opportunity to advance his or hers career. In any case, January is the month for policy statements defining how we want to live in the new year. Business is no exception here.
From Ethical Nightmares to Moral Clarity
28 january 2013
What is the chance for an American consumer to buy these days a piece of diamond jewelry made of a rough diamond found, for instance, in the Soviet Union in 1974? Or in Angola in 1993? Or in Côte d'Ivoire in 1995? According to Chaim Even-Zohar, the "home mine" owned by the U.S. population has a stock of diamonds worth about $ 0.5 trillion. Every year, part of this huge stock finds diverse ways to the secondary market. According to various estimates, diamonds put back to circulation account for 5% to 20% of annual sales, and in any case the likelihood to buy a product "past sell-by date" appears to be well above zero.
Market review: Another volatile year
21 january 2013
One may talk ad libitum repeating that diamonds are not commodities, which means that the diamond market is not like other markets. However, the globalization of the economy makes this thesis doubtful. Over the past few years, we have repeatedly experienced ups and downs of commodity prices, witnessing financial "bubbles" and crises in demand. The diamond market is unstable, and this is one of the properties, which is usually inherent to the “market" in the conventional sense of the word. In 2012, the diamond market took another step towards this "conventional sense."
Diwali in India was a success for gold and diamonds
14 january 2013
Diwali or the Festival of Lights is the biggest holiday in India, which bears the same significance for Hindus as Christmas for Christians. Diwali accounts for the largest proportion of annual sales made by Indian retailers. This holiday is traditionally associated with wealth and gift giving and completes a two-month festival, which is considered the season for buying gold in India.
ALROSA floating in the stock market would make a sui generis case
09 january 2013
The moment when a leading company decides to float on the stock market is always a moment of uncertainty. All eyes are pointed to its early results, as analysts try to figure out to correctly measure its performance. Are there competitors in the stock market that could erode the company’s profits? Are these competitors structurally compatible with the company under analysis? Is there any way to compare its performance with those of the competitors?
Current status of diamond cutting and jewelry industry in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
05 january 2013
The diamond cutting industry of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) includes a network of cutting businesses, which currently has only 11 operating factories. Since the manufacturing and sale of polished diamonds appears to be only an intermediate segment in the diamond pipeline, where final goods are represented by diamond jewelry put on sale, this survey is also focused on the jewelry industry of Yakutia, providing data on the diamond manufacturing and jewelry industry in this republic.
