Nosiphiwo Mzamo: South Africa’s State Diamond Trader to buy diamonds from other African countries

South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) is set to buy diamonds from other African countries starting with Botswana. SDT’s chief executive Nosiphiwo Mzamo told Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa at the country’s inaugural diamond show, which...

10 february 2025

Edahn Golan: Halo effect from lab-grown diamonds driving high demand for large, 2-carat natural stones in the U.S.

Edahn Golan, owner of the eponymous Edahn Golan Diamond Research and Data, told Rough & Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that their research found a halo effect from lab-grown diamonds. He said the trend among lab-grown diamond...

27 january 2025

Paul Zimnisky: We will see a modest recovery in natural diamond demand and prices in 2025

According to Paul Zimnisky, an independent diamond and jewellery analyst and consultant based in the New York metro area, the natural diamond industry will see a modest recovery in demand and prices this year. Zimnisky said a moderate recovery would...

13 january 2025

African Diamond Council makes traceability its top priority, wants KP to embrace Authentia.io

The African Diamond Council (ADC) has made traceability its foremost priority and has been contributing to a traceability solution called Authentia.io for the last three and a half years, which is now ready to globally satisfy the traceability...

16 december 2024

Gaetano Cavalieri: CIBJO leading the jewelry industry on critical issues

One of the gem and jewellery industry’s most well-known and respected personalities, Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, has been the president of the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), for the past 23 years. CIBJO is the oldest international organisation...

09 december 2024

CRISIL: India's diamond polishing industry revenue may drop 30-35% this fiscal

19 october 2023

India's diamond polishing industry will see its revenue drop by 30-35 per cent to $14-15 bn in the current fiscal year on poor demand from the US, EU and China, which account for 75 per cent of India's polished diamond exports, according to rating agency CRISIL.

Also, Israel imports $1.25 bn of polished diamonds annually from India, but with the country now declaring a war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas, this might get affected. Though there is an increase in demand in the second half of every fiscal year from festivities such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Chinese New Year, it is unlikely to provide a significant offset this time. Consequently, the Indian diamond industry is likely to shrink by over a third on an annualised basis this fiscal.

According to CRISIL, with the inventory of higher-cost polished diamonds piling up to over four months of sales, profitability of polishers will be chiseled 50-100 basis points amid lower retail prices. The silver lining is that a shrinking business translates to reduced debt, which will offset the pressure on credit risk profiles of diamond polishers, says CRISIL.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished