The Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF) announced the results of the Q2 2023 Fancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) on 2nd August 2023.
The average price of all colours and sizes of fancy colour diamonds continued to climb in Q2 2023 by 0.5%. This climb was in contrast to the quarterly trend in white diamonds, which experienced decreases of 3.5% and 17.2% over the previous 12 months.
In all colour categories, the Fancy Vivid grade had the highest increase of 1.2%. The other two saturation categories, Fancy and Fancy Intense, showed a combined rise below 0.3%. In Q2 2023, Yellows presented a more notable appreciation of 1.3%, while Pinks and Blues both showed an increase of 0.2%.
Yellow
The annual increment of the Yellow category was led by an increase of 6.5%. The Vivid grade increased by 1.5% across all sizes, followed by a 1.3% increase in the Intense grade, and a 1.1% rise in the Fancy grade. The highest increase was evident in the Fancy Vivid 8ct category, which rose by 5.4%, In the Intense category, the 3ct increased by 2.7% being the runner-up. The three categories that slightly decreased (~0.5%) this quarter are Vivid grade 1.5ct, Intense grade 10ct and Intense grade 5ct.
Pink
Pink diamonds rose overall by 0.2%, driven mainly by the Vivid category, which increased by 1.1%. The Fancy category was quite stable with no change, while the Fancy Intense Category decreased by 0.2%, driven by the larger carat sizes. The highest increase of 3.2% was in the 1.5ct Vivid grade, followed by an increase of 3.1% in the 1ct Vivid.
Blue
Blue diamond prices largely remained unchanged in Q2 2023, with the Vivid category increasing by 0.6%, outperforming the Fancy and Intense grades which remained unchanged. Among the Vivid grades, 5ct presented the highest climb, increasing by 1.6%. The weakest result was evident in Fancy 1ct which decreased by 1.7%.
Since the inception of the Fancy Color Research Foundation, all Fancy Color Diamonds have increased by 211%, Yellow diamonds have increased by 58%, Pink diamonds have had a remarkable 396% increase, and Blue diamonds have seen an increase of 251%.
FCRF Board Member Eden Rachminov said: “The first six months of 2023 were intriguing. We experienced notable spikes in certain sub-categories within the yellow category, particularly in the intense and vivid grades with a high inner grade. Meanwhile, the blue and pink categories remained stable. If the world economy continues to maintain its positive momentum, we can anticipate a robust price behaviour after the summer.”
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished