New York: Following a better-than-expected holiday sales season in the US and continued sluggish demand in Asia, the fancy color diamond category has demonstrated stability, with overall prices growing on average 0.3% during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the Fancy Color Diamond Index.
The strongest performance was in the fancy yellow diamond segment, growing by 1.1%. Among fancy yellow size categories, 3ct and 5ct demonstrated 2.7% and 4.4% price increases, respectively, likely driven by low availability in rough diamond tenders. Over the same period, white diamonds rebounded to show price increases in December according to RAPI™, fueled by supply shortages.
The Fancy Color Diamond Index is published by the non-profit Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF), and tracks pricing trends for yellow, pink and blue fancy color diamonds in three key global trading centers – Hong Kong, New York and Tel Aviv.
In Q4 the strongest non-yellow performers were 1ct and 1.5ct Fancy Vivid Blues and Pinks, witnessing price increases of 4.4% and 3.7%, respectively. Overall, the fancy blue category logged small price declines, after demonstrating significant price increases in the last two calendar quarters. The market is showing clear preferences towards fancy intense and fancy vivid, at the expense of the lighter color fancy category, which registered softened demand.
On a year-on-year basis, when compared to Q4 2014, the Fancy Color Diamond Index was practically flat, with blue fancy color up 1.7%, pink fancy color up 0.5% and yellow fancy color diamonds down 1.8%. Across all color segments, fancy intense and fancy vivid demonstrated robust price increases, which were partly offset by price declines of color diamonds in the fancy category. For a complete data analysis, please visit www.fcresearch.org.
FCRF Advisory Board member Jim Pounds, Senior Vice President, Diamond Management at Dominion Diamond Corporation (DDC), commented that “Mining companies have effectively shut down a considerable portion of their rough diamond production, especially in Africa, around mid-2015, resulting in market shortages across color and size categories, as reflected in the index results.”
