Diamond News
Rapaport Weekly Market Comment: Polished trading slows as Chinese buyers vacation over Lunar New Year...
RapaportRapaport Weekly Market Comment: Polished trading slows as Chinese buyers vacation over Lunar New Year. Consumer demand slow but steady with concerns that sluggish global economy and weak stock markets will lead to negative wealth effect. Shortages supporting prices for specific goods which are in demand. Large volume of new polished expected in 2Q after Jan. rough buying spree. Botswana’s 2015 rough exports -39% to $2.4B. Rio Tinto’s 2015 diamond sales -23% to $698M, earnings +32% to $104M. Asian Star 3Q revenue -3% to $102M, profit -25% to $2M. Blue Nile 4Q sales -5% to $150M, profit +4% to $5M. U.S. 2015 polished imports -4% to $23.1B, exports -12% to $18.3B. De Beers to launch grading at UK lab on March 1. Read More: http://ow.ly/Ydh6g
