Diamond Blog by MID House of Diamonds

INVITATION-ONLY CENTURION SHOW IN PHOENIX SET TO OPEN ARIZONA’S ANNUAL GEM SHOW FORTNIGHT

As it does it each year, through the end of January and the first two weeks of February the Arizona desert will attract gemstone and jewelry buyers from around the world. They are drawn into the western U.S. state not only by the generally sunny winter weather, but also by a series of trade shows, ranging from high-end events to displays literally arranged on the backs of trucks.
Much of the activity is centered in Tucson, located in the south of the western state, but for 19 years arguably one of the most prestigious events has takes place immediately prior, in Phoenix, about 170 kilometers to the north – the Centurion Show.
Featuring more than 150 high-end exhibitors, the invitation-only event traditionally has gathered in one place a sampling of buyers many of the more important retail outlets in the United States. Among the exhibitors is MID House of Diamonds.
Taking place from Tuesday, January 28, through Saturday, February 1, this year the show moves back to the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, just 20 minutes north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
The dates themselves are significant, for Centurion will end four days before the start of the AGTA Gem Show in Tucson, allowing visitors to attend both events.

GREETING THE 2020s: THE SHIFT TO ONLINE DIAMOND SALES

A watershed moment for the diamond industry occurred on May 29, 2018, the day before the start of the JCK Show in Las Vegas. In a move that few expected, the world’s most well know rough diamond mining company announced that it was launching a fashion jewelry brand with laboratory-grown diamonds called Lightbox Jewelry. They would begin selling online that September at a fixed price of $800 per carat, which at the time was about 75 percent lower than those being charged by existing lab-grown diamond producers.

GREETING THE 2020s: LEARNING TO LIVE WITH MAN-MADE DIAMONDS

GREETING THE 2020s: AS DEMOGRAPHICS SHIFT, SO DO CONSUMER PRINCIPLES

The massive growth of the diamond market that occurred largely during the second half of the 20th Century, in the years following World War !!, was led by three generations of Western buyers, which today are known largely as the Great Generation, comprising individuals who fought or were married to soldiers who were involved in the Second World War; the Baby Boomers, who born during the economic boom period of 1950 and 1960s, and Generation X, which came into its own during the 1970s and 1980s.

PRELIMINARY POST XMAS-DATA POINTS TO A GENERALLY POSITIVE HOLIDAY SEASON FOR JEWELRY

Christmas 2019 has come and gone and New Year Eve is soon upon us. Gifts have been given, unwrapped and even returned. Official data will be not be out until mid-January, but in the United States jewelry retailers have already begun summing up the holiday season that has just past, and initial reports seem pretty positive.

FAMED BRITISH DIAMOND DEALERS ADDS A FIREBIRD TO HIS COLLECTION OF EXCEPTIONAL STONES

With the last of its ten rough diamond sales cycles wrapping up December, De Beers has ended the year on a little more of an upbeat note, but nonetheless down on what it reported in 2018.

WHILE DE BEERS SALES WILL FALL MORE THAN 20 PERCENT, ITS PRODUCTION OF ROUGH DIAMONDS WILL RISE IN 2019

With the last of its ten rough diamond sales cycles wrapping up December, De Beers has ended the year on a little more of an upbeat note, but nonetheless down on what it reported in 2018.

AS PRICES OF LABORATORY-GROWN GOODS CONTINUE TO PLUNGE, THE ECONOMICS OF THE NEW PRODUCT SECTOR IS CHANGING

Technological developments are changing the nature of the laboratory-grown diamond market, and in particular those stones that are synthesized using CVD techniques, states Bain and Co., in its recent report on the diamond industry produced together with the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC).

MOOD UPBEAT IN THE U.S MARKET AS END-OF-YEAR SHOPPING SEASONS STARTS STRONGLY

The 2019 end-of-the-year shopping season began powerfully in the United States, the world’s largest market, with a record 189.6 million U.S. shopped from Thanksgiving Day, November 28, through Cyber Monday, five days later, an increase of 14 percent over last year’s 165.8 million, reported the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

REPORT SAYS DIAMOND INDUSTRY EXPERIENCED TOUGH 2019, FULL RECOVERY AND GROWTH MOST LIKELY IN 2021

In early December, the Pantone Color Institute named “Classic Blue” as its color of the year for 2020. It was the second time that a bluish hue had been chosen, following the selection of Cerulean in 2000.

FANCY COLOR DIAMONDS COME TO THE FORE AS PANTONE SELECTS BLUE HUE AS ITS COLOR OF THE YEAR

BAIN REPORTS THAT PERSONAL LUXURY MARKET GREW BY 4 PERCENT IN 2019 TO REACH $312 BILLION

Despite geopolitical turbulence and fears of recession, the overall luxury market – encompassing both luxury goods and experiences – grew by 4 percent in 2019 to an estimated $1.44 trillion globally. The core personal luxury goods segment, which includes jewelry, followed a similar path, achieving 4 percent growth and reaching €312 billion.

MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR JEWELRY HEIST AT DRESDEN MUSEUM, BUT ITS MOST FAMOUS ARTEFACT IS SPARED

Thieves got away with a collection of jewelry at museum in the historic German city of Dresden in what local police are describing as the largest such theft since World War II. But the museum’s most famous showpiece, the 41-carat Dresden Green Diamond was not taken, because it currently is on loan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

LVMH’S PURCHASE OF TIFFANY & CO. BEING HAILED AS JEWELRY DEAL OF THE MILLENNIUM

Some are calling it the jewelry deal of the millennium. That’s difficult to say, but less than 20 years in, it almost certainly will register as the jewelry deal of the 21st Century.

KIMBERLEY PROCESS COMES UNDER FIRE AFTER FAILING TO AMEND ‘CONFLICT DIAMONDS’ DEFINITION IN NEW DELHI

After five days of deliberations in New Delhi, with the deadline for the end of the Kimbreley Process’ three-year review and reform cycle fast approaching, delegates made a last-minute attempt to reach consensus over a broadening of the definition of what constitutes a “conflict diamond.” But they ultimately failed to reach agreement.

FOR THE FIRST TIME NATURAL AND LAB-GROWN DIAMOND SECTORS AGREE TO COOPERATE IN DEVELOP COMMON SET OF TRADING PRINCIPLES

For possibly the first time in a formal industry setting, representatives of both the natural and laboratory-grown diamond sectors have come together with the intention of establishing a set of mutually agreed-to principles that will regulate thee relations between the product categories.

AS YEAR ENDS FOR REGION’S DIAMOND AND JEWELRY TRADE, BUYERS HEAD FOR JMA HONG KONG, LAST MAJOR SHOW OF 2019

JMA Hong Kong, the final major Asian trade show of 2019, which takes place for the 27th
time right at the start of the traditional Western holiday shopping season and about three
weeks before the beginning of the Chinese New Year, has become the focus of a great deal
of attention this year, in part because of the political turmoil currently bubbling in the Asian
business capital.

GOVERNMENT, INDUSTRY AND CIVIL SOCIETY HEAD FOR INDIA AS 3-YEAR REVIEW OF KP CERTIFICATION SCHEME NEARS ITS END

Representative of the tripartite coalition that makes up the Kimberley Process will assemble
in New Delhi, India, on November 18, for a five-day Plenary Meeting at which the fate of the
organization’s three-year review and reform cycle will be decided.

AS MARRIAGE RATES FALL, DE BEERS RETHINKS CONCEPT OF MATRIMONIAL JEWELRY

Marriage rates are a record low, forcing the diamond industry, which for decades has relied largely on matrimonial jewelry sales to anchor the market, to rethink the way in which it markets it product. So the term “bridal jewelry” is out, and it is being replaced by the term “commitment jewelry.”

FANCY COLOR DIAMOND PRICES POST MODEST DECLINE DURING Q3, CIVIL UNREST IN HONG CITED AS CAUSE

Prices of fancy color diamonds remained largely stable during the third quarter of 2019, reported the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF), whose Fancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) decreased by a modest 0.5 percent during the three-month period.

NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT ROMANTIC LOVE REMAINS THE MAIN DRIVER FOR DIAMOND PURCHASES

Romantic love continues to be the main reason for diamond gifting, reports De Beers in its recently published Insight Report, driving about half of the value of demand in the two largest markets – the United States and China.

DE BEERS RELEASE INSIGHT REPORT LOOKING AT MARKET IN 2018, SAYS THAT GROWTH DRIVEN BY UNITED STATES AND CHINA

De Beers has just released its latest Insight report, in which it provides a comprehensive overview of the diamond and jewelry markets up through the end of 2018. In it, the company reports that consumer demand continued to grow, driven by sustained positive macro-economic fundamentals.

ALROSA REPORTS DISCOVERY OF 232-CARAT GEM-QUALITY ROUGH DIAMOND

Alrosa, the state-controlled Russian diamond mining company that currently is the world’s leading diamond producer by output, has reported the discovery of a very large rough diamond, weighing more than 232 carats. The company says that it is largest gem-quality rough diamond found in more than three years.

WITH ONE MONTH TO GO TO START OF HOLIDAY SEASON OPTIMISM IS HIGH AMONG U.S. RETAILERS

In just one month’s time, on November 28 this year, American with gather together for their traditional Thanksgiving meal. Traditionally held on the final Thursday of the month, it is followed by what popularly has become known as Black Friday, the start of end-of-the-year shopping season.

DIAMOND AND JEWELRY INDUSTRY ETHICS INCREASINGLY LINKED TO INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

Expected standards of ethical behavior are increasingly becoming linked to a number of international ethical protocols, which also are applied in other business sectors, writes Tiffany Stevens, President of the CIBJO Ethics Commission in a recently published special report. Ms. Stevens is also President and CEO of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, the chief legal body representing the U.S. jewelry sector.

MID BLOG