The company expects to unveil the association in the spring, a Diamond Foundry spokesperson told
Rapaport News last week. Its mission will be to “celebrate the virtues of American diamonds, focusing on diamonds manufactured in America and the local ecosystem supported by them.”
The launch coincides with Diamond Foundry’s rollout of a public-policy agenda, which outlines its corporate views on issues such as the environment, education, the protection of US jobs, international trade, immigration and innovation.
To oversee this, the company has hired specialist Gwyneth Borden as its head of public policy. Borden has experience on Capitol Hill and in local government, the company said.
RAPAPORT. JCK Las Vegas has been postponed until late August, giving the organizers a better chance of holding the event in its usual physical form.
“After a year without an opportunity for the jewelry community to gather, it is important to JCK to facilitate an in-person event in the most positive and safe way possible,” JCK said in a statement Monday.
Both the main JCK fair and the Luxury show will run from August 27 to 30 at the Venetian Resort & Sands Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. The invitation-only part of Luxury will take place from August 24 to 26. This schedule is “the best path forward to reunite the jewelry industry in 2021,” organizers said.
RAPAPORT. The US jewelry industry continued to downsize in the fourth quarter of 2020, with 91 companies leaving the business, according to data from the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT).
Only one firm went bankrupt, while 21 dropped out due to mergers or takeovers, the JBT reported last week. A further 69 closed for other reasons.
The number of exits plunged 71% compared with the same period of 2019. However, the total size of the industry fell 2.2% year on year to 24,233, with only 40 businesses joining the trade during the period. The retail sector, the largest portion of industry, shrank 2.2% to 18,369 companies. The number of wholesalers declined 2.1% to 3,486, while manufacturers decreased 2.5% to 2,378 firms.
RAPAPORT. Lucapa Diamond Company’s revenue plunged in the fourth quarter as the miner delayed sales while it negotiated a partnership agreement with manufacturer Safdico.
The company did not garner any revenue from its Mothae mine in Lesotho while it concluded talks over a sales deal with the Graff subsidiary related to rough from that site. In addition, it held only one sale of goods from its Lulo mine in Angola, compared with the usual two.
Sales from Lulo fell 32% year on year to $6.6 million for the three months ending December 31, Lucapa said last week. Sales volume from the deposit dropped 48% to 4,269 carats, with a 31% rise in the average price to $1,550 per carat partially offsetting the lower volumes.
RAPAPORT. HourUniverse, the successor to Baselworld, has been postponed until the summer due to continued uncertainty over Covid-19, the show organizers said Monday in a letter to exhibitors.
This year’s event will take place “a few months” later than the April dates for which MCH Group had been planning, the company noted. It has not given specific timing.
MCH, which owned the defunct Baselworld watch and jewelry show, unveiled HourUniverse in July last year. It has presented it as a hybrid digital and physical event that would feature online networking all year round, in addition to an annual live event at Messe Basel, the traditional Baselworld venue. The 2021 fair had been due to take place from April 8 to 12.