Diwali Lessons

(ehudlaniado.com) - The diamond industry has quieted down this week, as the Indian center went on its Diwali holiday vacation. Diwali, one of the most popular Hindu holidays, celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair. It is an important holiday, and businesses close for at least five days. These closures are significant for the diamond industry. In the weeks prior to the holiday, factories start to wind down. Managers from the Mumbai headquarters head out to the factories in Surat to supervise the closing process. The level of rough diamond purchases drops sharply, as seen in the most recent cycle, when De Beers announced that rough diamond sales fell 27% to $370 million from the $507 million worth of rough diamond sold just five weeks earlier. This is part of the diamond industry’s annual cycle (last year De Beers’ sales fell 23% during the same period).