RAPAPORT. The
Rapaport News team looks back at a tumultuous year in our final podcast of 2020, highlighting the most significant stories and trends that shaped our industry.
Publisher John Costello, News Editor Avi Krawitz, and reporters Joshua Freedman and Leah Meirovich discuss the success with which the industry pivoted to digital and the impact the “new normal” is having on diamond trading and jewelry shopping. The past year also saw significant changes in the way the industry is embracing the kindness economy and bringing more diversity to the industry, and its approach to generic marketing.
Finally, the team members picked their favorite stories of 2020, and, though it takes a brave soul to make any forecasts in the current environment, we made a tentative prediction for 2021.
RAPAPORT. US e-commerce sales rose on Super Saturday, with consumers steering away from buying in stores when they made their last-minute pre-Christmas purchases.
Consumers shelled out $1.6 billion on the December 19 shopping day, up 30% year on year from 2019, Adobe Analytics said Monday. That led a weekend of strong digital sales, as consumers spent $1.9 billion via their laptops and smartphones the following Sunday, an increase of 56% over the previous year.
The growth follows the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) prediction that 150 million consumers planned to shop on Super Saturday, both in-store and online. Some 42% of those surveyed said they intended to only buy online on the discount day. In fact, the number of shoppers purchasing in stores fell 41% compared with a year ago, according to shopping tracker RetailNext.
$1,727/carat
Source: US Commerce Department data; Rapaport archives.
About the data: The US, the world’s largest diamond retail market, is a net importer of polished. As such, net polished imports representing polished imports minus polished exports will usually be a positive number.
Net rough imports calculated as rough imports minus rough exports will also generally be in surplus. The nation has no operational diamond mines but has a manufacturing sector, so it normally ships more rough in than out. The
net diamond account is total rough and polished imports minus total exports. It is the US’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by importing and ultimately consuming diamonds.
RAPAPORT. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will scale back its Antwerp operations from January, but has decided not to shut the laboratory entirely.
“Today, we notified clients of the GIA laboratory in Antwerp that, as of January, the laboratory will offer consolidated services with reduced staff,” a spokesperson told
Rapaport News Monday. It will continue to provide client consultations, rough-diamond analysis for the GIA Diamond Origin Report, and some follow-up services and inscriptions for D-to-Z diamonds up to 3.99 carats, he added.
In August, the GIA revealed preliminary plans to close or significantly trim its laboratory and offices in the Belgian city, citing market conditions and the Covid-19 pandemic.
RAPAPORT. Mumbai’s Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) is on the verge of allowing lab-grown trading, with members due to vote on the matter next week.
The board of the world’s largest diamond hub has recommended the move, arguing that better detection and increased awareness have made it easier to segregate synthetic stones from natural ones. The poll will take place at the annual general meeting (AGM) at the BDB on December 28, according to the exchange’s annual report, which it released last week.
The bourse banned synthetics in 2015, but has been reconsidering the rule for more than two years and holding talks with India’s Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee on how to keep watch of the trade. The board received numerous requests for a meeting in which members could pass the amendment, BDB president Anoop Mehta told