Over the next few days, the second International Rough Diamond Week is taking place in Israel and will feature tenders in which the main international rough diamond suppliers participate. We reached out to Ehud Laniado, one of the leading diamantaires in the rough diamond industry, who is renowned for his know-how and unique experience in the sector, in order to hear his views on the International Rough Diamond Week which is currently taking place in Israel.
"More of the same" continues to be the dominant sentiment of the diamond industry with the “wait and see” and "play it as it goes" emerging as the prevailing attitudes. This is not by choice.
Dark Clouds Overhead
All large sales periods – the November-December holiday season, Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, Hong Kong and Basel trade shows – were disappointing to diamond traders. Worse, looking forward, sales projections by chain stores in the US, Hong Kong and China are poor. Most are reluctant to replenish their inventories and are adopting a “playing it as it goes” policy.
MAJOR EVENTS – WEAK MARKET SENTIMENT
Two major diamond-marketing events have taken place over the course of the last two weeks - the Baselworld trade fair and the De Beers Sight (De Beers’ rough diamonds sales event). Both occurred under a cloud of weak market sentiment.
"Market players are complaining that polished diamond prices are in a “confusion mode” as asking prices are quite far from what buyers are willing to pay.."
Read the full article at "Hayahalom" The Israeli Diamond Industry Magazine (Hebrew)