Image credit: YAMS
A large group of international diamond manufacturers and traders have come together in search of an independent, transparent, innovative polished diamond trading and buying platform, says their statement distributed by Ya'akov Almor Marketing Communications & Strategy.
The initiative was born on March 20, 2020, immediately after the Rapaport Group (RG), which operates the diamond industry’s leading polished trading diamond platform and price index system, unilaterally adjusted prices downwards for about 95 percent of the categories listed in the round and fancy polished diamond price index of March 20, with an average of five to seven percent, across the board. The RG’s unilateral adjustment of its price index caused an unparalleled uproar in the global diamond trade.
The diamond traders jointly announced that they would use the RG’s polished diamond price index as published on March 6, 2020, as a reference point until a new, independent, non-biased and transparent alternative would be presented to the diamond industry.
Meanwhile, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) announced that a state-of-the-art, “cross-bourse” trading platform is under development (www.get-diamonds.com). It will very soon be available for the diamond industry and trade at large.
The diamond traders and manufacturers from the major diamond trading hubs - Mumbai, Antwerp, Tel Aviv, New York, and Dubai – shared their grievances and objections to the RG’s newly published round and fancy polished diamond price index. The arguments voiced by participants in the online discussions were, among others, that over the years, the RG has operated the trade’s leading price index system in a non-transparent manner and had dictated polished diamond prices, revising them upwards or downwards, without explaining the rationale or mechanism that lies behind its decision-making process. The current slow trade of polished diamonds is not сaused by supply and demand fundamentals. Therefore, the latest polished diamond prices published by the RG do not reflect trading prices in the global wholesale diamond market, according to the statement.
The group members consequently resolved to remove their polished diamond inventories from the platform, stating that as a collective, they no longer wish to depend on the RG’s trading platform and price index. They meanwhile are posting their stocks on other existing platforms.
Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels
Meanwhile, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) announced that a state-of-the-art, “cross-bourse” trading platform is under development (www.get-diamonds.com). It will very soon be available for the diamond industry and trade at large.
The diamond traders and manufacturers from the major diamond trading hubs - Mumbai, Antwerp, Tel Aviv, New York, and Dubai – shared their grievances and objections to the RG’s newly published round and fancy polished diamond price index. The arguments voiced by participants in the online discussions were, among others, that over the years, the RG has operated the trade’s leading price index system in a non-transparent manner and had dictated polished diamond prices, revising them upwards or downwards, without explaining the rationale or mechanism that lies behind its decision-making process. The current slow trade of polished diamonds is not сaused by supply and demand fundamentals. Therefore, the latest polished diamond prices published by the RG do not reflect trading prices in the global wholesale diamond market, according to the statement.
The group members consequently resolved to remove their polished diamond inventories from the platform, stating that as a collective, they no longer wish to depend on the RG’s trading platform and price index. They meanwhile are posting their stocks on other existing platforms.
Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels
