Monthly Archives: June 2022

Spike in Diamond Prices Isn’t Putting Off Engagements

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Signet has seen robust demand for engagement rings in 2022
CEO says diamond prices have risen around 15%-20% this year
Robust demand for engagement rings suggests 2023 is going to be another big year for weddings, according to one of the largest US jewelers.
Gina Drosos, chief executive officer of Signet Jewelers Ltd., said in an interview that Zales, Kay Jewelers and the company’s other brands are selling a lot of engagement rings this year. In the three months ended April 30, growth was particularly strong for items costing more than $3,000, Drosos said. Many of those were wedding items, which account for about half of the company’s sales.
Drosos and others have dubbed 2022 the “year of the wedding” on expectations that there will be the largest number of celebrations in 40 years, as pandemic-delayed couples head to the altar.
As demand surges, the price of diamonds has risen between 15% to 20% over the past six months, Drosos said. Some of that increase is due to sanctions on stones mined in Russia, the world’s biggest source of gems, although it’s hard to parse out the direct impact, she said. Signet and other jewelers told suppliers to stop buying stones from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
Signet’s price hikes for shoppers have been more moderate than the jump in diamond costs, Drosos said, without providing specifics.
“We have been able to mitigate a large portion of those price increases given our vertical integration,” Drosos said. The company has increased production at a factory it owns in Botswana, for example.
Special thanks to Jeannette Neumann and Bloomberg for thsi update

 

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Gem Diamonds unearths 125-Carat Diamond in Lesotho

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Africa-focused Gem Diamonds (LON: GEMD) has found a 125-carat rough stone at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, the miner’s second rock over 100 carats mined this year.
The company, known for the recovery of large, high-quality stones in 2020, has seen output of high-quality diamonds surpassing the 100-carat mark become less frequent over the past year.
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In 2021, Gem Diamonds found only six of such diamonds at Letšeng, compared to the 16 it discovered in 2020.
The find comes as prices for small diamonds have jumped about 20% since the start of March, as cutters, polishers and traders struggle to source stones outside Russia.
State-owned Russian miner Alrosa (MCX: ALRS), the world’s top diamond producer by output, was hit with US sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Higher prices for lower-end stones are good news for miners, but not a game changer, experts say. While every mine is different, a general rule is that 20% of production — the best stones — account for about 80% of profits.
Since acquiring Letšeng in 2006, the company has found more than 60 white gem quality diamonds over 100 carats each, with 16 of them recovered last year. At an average elevation of 3,100 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level, Letšeng is also one of the world’s highest diamond mines.

 

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RADIANT CUT DIAMOND MICRO PAVE ENGAGEMENT RING

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