Data Suppliers: Index Feedback

I have a positive outlook. I believe that the incoming administration is pro-business and that they will work to make the economy better. When people have more expendable income they buy more luxury items. I believe that Fancy Color diamonds can do better than the whites. For the Millennials, which is the segment we’re targeting it’s all about the story and the value. While whites have been losing value, Fancy Colors have done much better in maintaining value. So I think that Fancy Color diamonds have an added advantage here, and they can benefit even more from an improved economic situation.

This points back to my previous answer. The rarity evaluator is a great tool for retailers to show their clients how rare these diamonds are. In the trade we all know how rare Fancy Color diamonds are. But for the retailer and the end user, they can see exactly how rare a particular diamond is at a glance. All of the information is right there on the computer screen.

I think that things will remain the same. I don’t think that we will see a big change in the sales we make. A person who wants to buy a $2 million stone will not be affected by whether Trump or Hillary is president.

For me, I don’t think that I will use it. My clients are all B2B, so they know how rare a particular diamond is. However in some cases I might use it, for example to show a client how he can explain the rarity of the stone to his own client.

I don’t believe that Fancy Color Diamonds are part of the luxury goods segment. That segment includes high end cars, designer handbags, luxury watches. Fancy Color Diamonds are a rare item. They are more of an investment that a luxury purchase.

From my point of view, with the election of Trump things will remain the same. It will continue to be a comfortable climate for Fancy Color Diamonds because the economic situation around the world is not so good and Fancy Colors are a safe haven for money. Just as a valuable piece of art or property or even an antique is. Fancy Color Diamonds are more comparable to those investment items than to luxury goods.

Since we deal with people who understand the goods, we don’t need to use the rarity tool. We are mostly a B2B business, so our clients know the value of what they are buying. The kind of diamonds we sell are bought by people who understand and appreciate the rarity of the goods. However, I believe that it can be useful for retailers to explain to their clients exactly what they are buying.

Definitely, I would move to pinks, blues and greens for the time being, and perhaps when the demand for the yellow begins to improve, I would consider making a move towards the yellows as well.

No. With diminishing supplies and increasing demand for these goods I am not surprised at all. It's a supply and demand issue - there are very few goods in the market, and some of these colors are becoming very rare and demand is increasing significantly. This is especially true in times of economic uncertainty and political upheavals that people gravitate towards safer, tangible assets like fancy color diamonds. In addition, people like to diversify their portfolios and they see fancy color diamonds as a good store of value, financial security and a better and safer investment. And the last two to three years have proved that the fancy color diamond market has outperformed other traditional alternative investments like stocks, bonds, and commodities, which suffered huge losses. So what better way of safeguarding your assets than securing them in fancy color diamonds?

This is actually a very complicated issue. There is price weakness for fancy yellow and in certain sizes for fancy intense yellow. However, vivid yellow and certain sizes of fancy intense yellow have maintained their value. Production is not able to keep up with the demand for vivid yellow diamonds. Generally speaking we think that yellows are undervalued. As for pinks, we are concentrating on certain sizes, shapes and intensities. In the blues there is not a large enough production to allow manufacturers to create an inventory. Therefore we are investing more heavily in the yellows and pinks and not much in the blues.

Absolutely not. The market for these stones is quite different than that for colorless diamonds. This is due to the fact that there is not enough production of pink and blue diamonds from rough to polished to satisfy even 1% of the demand for these colors. People have been asking for more pinks and blues since they have been influenced by what is being sold by the auction houses.

No. We are extremely strong in pinks, blues and reds so we don’t see any reason to change our product mix. We have a proven track record of 13 years with these colors and I believe that they are the safest and best investment future.

High quality Intense and Vivid Blues and Pinks are very rare and very hard to replace. Yellows are more common as there is a larger supply. I believe that the price of blues and pinks will be driven up much higher especially when the calls are in the market for such rare items.

The market has been following the trend set by auction results, and every time we had a price increase it was based on a previous auction result that made a record, especially for blue diamonds. It’s also related to the fact that these stones are in limited supply, and when they become more desirable, the supply and demand factor plays a prominent role.

When a customer looks at the diamond business as a whole (colored and white diamonds) they find it hard to understand that part of the market has decreasing prices while the other part has prices going up. We can easily explain it by the fact that demand for colored diamonds is still strong and because their are in limited supply, their price has been steadily increasing. On the other hand, the demand for white diamonds is weak fueling a price decrease. International media is playing a major role though. By constantly spreading information that the diamond market is weak, they transmit a sense of caution to the potential buyers that do not differentiate between colored and white diamonds. They see it as a whole and ultimately their consumption of colored diamonds too will be affected creating price resistance down the line.

Blue diamonds are priceless. Demand dictates the constant price increases. It will continue further.

Yes. The whole world is one city. Less sales and more operators create a slight price pressure for fancy colors, but it is marginal in comparison to the the drop in white diamond prices. White prices bottomed out.

Yes, there is a connection to auctions, but sophisticated buyers do not care about auctions – they look at historical data and they buy what they love.

No, I don’t think the drop in white diamonds affects the fancy color buyers. If anything, it gives fancy color buyers more confidence in the product.

Most definitely. Auctions set the trend and reinforce the rarity factor. There is an acute shortage of vivid blue diamonds in the market, anyway. Each time that a record price is achieved for an important stone at an international auction , the price increase spills over to stones above 1ct in the same colour category.

We are seeing a current softening in the overall diamond market due to global economic uncertainty. This has a greater effect on the prices. There is also a softening in demand from Chinese, Russian and European markets.
The drop in colorless prices has been around for a year, yet fancy color continued to rise until recently.