Rapaport has released their monthly report that shows a decline in polished diamond prices for the month of August. The results show the slowing down of trading as well as buyers decreasing the size of their inventory purchases prior to September’s Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair. The market for polished diamonds had a slow August due to Belgian and Israeli dealers going on vacation for most of the month, whereas commercial quality SI-I2 clarity diamonds were high in demand in the U.S. market.
1-carat diamonds that are laboratory-graded saw a decline of 1.4 per cent for the RapNet Diamond Index, while 0.30-carat diamonds had an even bigger decline at 1.5 per cent. 0.50-carat and 3-carat diamonds also had a RAPI decrease by one per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Results for rough trading are expected to lower even further in September. CJ