FCDI Q3 2015
STRONG DEMAND FOR BLUE FANCY COLOR DIAMONDS IN Q3 2015
Fancy Color Diamond Index shows price stability against negative price trends for white diamonds.
Tel Aviv, November 3, 2015: As the diamond industry gears up for its hot selling holiday season, fancy color diamond prices are holding steady. According to the Fancy Color Diamond Index, prices of these diamonds remained stable during the third quarter of 2015, at a time when white diamond prices showed declines of 6 – 10%. The best performing fancy color diamonds were Vivid blues, which showed price increases of up to 6% over the previous quarter.
The Fancy Color Diamond Index is published by the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF), and tracks pricing data for yellow, pink and blue fancy color diamonds in three key global trading centers – Hong Kong, New York and Tel Aviv.
Between July to September 2015, the Fancy Color Diamond Index remained practically unchanged, despite lower transaction volumes. Yellow diamond prices, especially in the Fancy category, were soft and declined by up to 2%. Blue diamonds showed average price rises of up to 2%, driven by the Vivid category, with certain sizes (1.5 carat, 2 carats and 5 carat) increasing by 5 – 6% over the previous quarter. This marks the most significant quarterly price increase for blue diamonds in the last 12 months. Prices for pink diamonds were on average unchanged.
On a year-on-year basis, when compared to Q3 2014, blue diamonds have been the strongest performer among all color categories with a 3 – 4% price appreciation. The highest single-category year-on-year price increase was for 5 carat Vivid blue diamonds at 11%.
FCRF Advisory Board Chairman Eden Rachminov said “Demand for blue diamonds may have been magnified by the excitement being generated by the upcoming Sotheby’s auction headlined by the “Blue Moon”, one of the world’s important fancy Vivid blue diamonds. This has caused increased demand against a shortage of fancy blue diamonds.”
FCDI Q2 2015
Fancy color diamond prices resume appreciation with a modest rise in Q2 2015
5 August 2015: The FCDI™, which debuted in November 2014 to track the price performance of fancy color diamonds for the benefit of retailers, collectors, investors and other industry stakeholders, shows that fancy color diamonds are continuing to outperform other diamond categories and exhibit price firmness, against a backdrop of white diamond price declines in Q2 of 2015.
The July 2015 reading of data, provided by a large sample of wholesale traders, analyzed by the FCRF and reviewed by a 3rd party, revealed that fancy color diamond prices, across the categories of pinks, yellows and blues, increased by 1% in the period between April and July 2015. Most of the price growth was driven by the blue categories; the strongest category performers included 1ct fancy blue and 1ct fancy vivid yellow (both up 4%), and fancy vivid blue in the 3-10ct range, up between 4-6%. Another large increase of 5-6% was noted in 8-10ct pinks, both intense and vivid. In most categories, prices were driven up due to supply scarcity.
During this period, price weakness in white diamond continued, as polished inventories continued accumulating across the supply chain. According to the RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI™), 1 carat diamonds prices declined by 1.6% over the same period.
To further enhance data consistency and improve accuracy the FCRF continued to expand its global contributor reach in collecting pricing data for the Index. Market pricing is submitted by contributors over a secure data link that applies advanced statistical tools to identify trends and rule out pricing outliers.
Mr. Ishaia Gol, a member of the board of advisors for The FCRF, commented, “recent months have been trying, to put it mildly, on the overall diamond industry. However, fancy color diamonds are continuously demonstrating resilience and positioning themselves as a uniquely protected product category, strongly affected by dwindling supply”.
“Actual trading has been thin over the last quarter, mainly driven by notable softness in China. Nevertheless, we were seeing improved demand in other regions, and traders feel strongly about their pricing, acknowledging the declining supply channels, which would likely be further diminished as miners scale down production later this year”.
Detailed Index data and charts are available to members on the FCRF website and are one of the key benefits of membership of the Foundation. Over the coming months a number of additional publications that provide the jeweler retail trade with crucial fancy color diamond knowledge and information will be launched.