It is great to read that despite the subprime crisis and looming recession in the US as well as the negative impact of it all on other markets, diamond prices have been holding their own. Check out this report. This is what the mining companies like De Beers, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton tout when they face investors and industry analysts.
The problem is, this only refers to the large, good colour and clarity stones. Every other category of diamond is struggling with nosediving sales in the US and almost nowhere else to go. These other categories constitute some 85% of all diamonds sold.
The mining companies will make a pretty packet because of the huge premiums the big and beautiful stones command. Very, very few in the diamond processing pipeline will however, get to see these stones. The rest have to do what they can to keep their heads above water. China, India, the Middle East and even Russia are showing sharply increased – and steadily increasing – diamond consumption patterns. But all of them put together can’t take up the slack left by a sagging US market. And as consumers in these markets get ever more affluent, they too want the big and beautiful…
