Vladimir Pilyushin: The jewelry market is not stand-alone and moves by the same laws as other markets

Vladimir Pilyushin is editor-in-chief of Russian Jeweler, a leading magazine about the jewelry industry in Russia. He told Rough&Polished about his view on the evolution of the jewelry industry in Russia and touched upon some of its problems.

16 september 2024

Sarine’s David Block: Diamond Industry at Standstill Until Chinese Demand Returns

David Block is CEO of Israel’s Sarine Technologies and has served in the position since 2012. In this exclusive interview for Rough and Polished, Block gives his opinion on the leading issues affecting today’s diamond trade.

11 september 2024

Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge: Demand for considerable-sized diamonds stronger than ever

The African Diamond Council (ADC) chairperson Dr M'zée Fula Ngenge told Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that although overall global diamond prices have been somewhat soft, the demand for considerable-sized diamonds...

02 september 2024

Amplats sees prospects as a standalone company

Anglo has revealed its plans to demerge Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), which has operations in South Africa and Zimbabwe, to optimise shareholder value. Rough&Polished contacted Amplats to comment on this and other issues but was referred...

19 august 2024

WFDB President Yoram Dvash Remains Confident Despite Global Diamond Challenges

Yoram Dvash is President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) having been elected in 2020. He found time in his busy schedule to speak to Rough&Polished about the state of the diamond industry around the world and some of the major...

12 august 2024

Japan interested in the Arctic LNG-2 project

30 may 2024

Japan is interested in further supplies of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), said Dmitry Birichevsky, Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

According to him, the key LNG project for Japan is Arctic LNG-2. The project involves the construction of three production lines with a capacity of 6.6 million tons of LNG per year. Tokyo is expected to purchase two million tons of liquefied natural gas annually, 1prime.ru reports.

In November last year, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against Arctic LNG 2 LLC, a subsidiary of Novatek, which implements the project of the same name.

As noted by the Japanese media, due to restrictions, Japan will be forced to reconsider LNG procurement plans. In addition, a complete freeze of the project will lead to the transformation of Japanese investments into "bad loans".

"It is obvious that sanctions will hit the closest allies of the United States. For example, natural gas is one of the priority topics of our cooperation with Japan in the current difficult geopolitical conditions. As far as we understand, Tokyo is interested in further supplies of Russian gas," Birichevsky said.

Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished