Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up?

[WinkHPD]

I received the following information from Paul Slegers of Crafted by Infinity. I think that many of you searching for diamonds will find it time sensitive and interesting information.

"With the first month of the year almost over, I just wanted to inform you about current events in diamonds.

General feeling is that the holidays were very active, followed by a very active January. Most complaints are about certain goods being hard to find, especially in pointers (0.30 up to 0.90) and in VS-SI, 4- and 6-grainers. With that in mind, I just did the following exercise.

On Rapnet, I have just searched worldwide for all round H-VS2 between 1.00 and 1.19, GIA-3EX, None to Faint

- I find 717 stones,
- Then, I limit depth to a range between 60.4% and 61.6%, and suddenly, we only have 174 stones left,
- A further refinement to table-sizes between 54% and 58% reduces the number to 70 only, worldwide.
- Unfortunately, I cannot refine further on other cut-quality-aspects, but I can check how many of these 70 are actually in the US. Of the 717 we started with, we are now down to only 31.
- Checking further details of some of this highly selective list learns that most do not have the average proportions to compare to our cut-quality.

The same exercise for H-VS1 gives the following numbers:
- Total GIA 3EX, None to Faint is 795 stones,
- Limiting total depth brings us to 214,
- Limiting table-size, the count is down to 91,
- And in the US, only 39.

Seeing these numbers, it is no surprise that prices are firm on the market and expectations are that there will be a notable increase in the Rap-list in the next days or weeks. "

In talking with Todd Gray of NiceIce, he tells me that he is hearing that rough prices in Antwerp are already up 8 to 10%. I have asked Paul for confirmation and expect to hear from him tomorrow. (It is already past business hours in Antwerp.)

I suspect that you can expect price increases on these sizes soon.

Wink

 

[teobdl]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

Very interesting. How might this affect even smaller pointers, such as those used in melee?

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I am not sure. Perhaps we can entice Paul to come speak about this with us since he is looking at diamonds in Belgium every day.

Wink

 

[TC1987]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

heh heh Then maybe those PS-ers who are selling "used" diamonds can hold out and get some decent prices for them. >;-D

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

LOL, it could happen. Not too long ago I bought a diamond I sold for $7,000 fifteen years ago for $11,500. My client was very happy and after I recut the diamond to the Crafted by Infinity standards that I use today I was very happy too. Funny thing is, it was already what I would have called an Ideal cut then and it certainly would get a GIA Ex the way it was, but it just looked so much better after Paul Slegers
"fixed" it for me...

Wink

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I love it that you recut the diamond, Wink! You turned a nice diamond into a great diamond!

I am sad to hear about potential price increases. It is especially hard on young people trying to buy engagement rings. (And hard on any of us who really like diamonds!)

 

[Safflower]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

This is not good news for anyone seeking a quality and cost effective 1ct stone soon! I wonder how long the shortage and price hike will last? There are so few with the ideal cut proportions!

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I love it that you recut the diamond, Wink! You turned a nice diamond into a great diamond!

I am sad to hear about potential price increases. It is especially hard on young people trying to buy engagement rings. (And hard on any of us who really like diamonds!)

You are so right. When I was just starting in the business an nice 1ct started at about $750 retail and a D-IF was only about 4,000. Then we had the diamond investment craze and a one carat D-IF sold in Feb of 1980 between dealers at the Bourse for $65,000. Then they came crashing down. For a few years you could buy a well cut, but not great cut, D-IF for between 9 and 12 k between dealers. Those days are gone, and they are very unlikely to ever come back now that the Indian market and the Chinese market have blossomed.

The Chinese market is now huge, and saying that yeah, only 10% of the Chinese market can afford a diamond means very little when you look at just how HUGE 10% of the Chinese market is. The American market once consumed way over 1/2 of the world's sales of diamonds each year. Now it is less than 50% and by all accounts will someday be much less. My friend John Pollard has an encyclopedic memory for these numbers, perhaps he will drop by and share them with us.

I am guessing that it will be only days before we see a price increase, given the increased prices of rough, but, if I am lucky, it could be weeks. I would bet a LOT of money that it will not be months.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

This is not good news for anyone seeking a quality and cost effective 1ct stone soon! I wonder how long the shortage and price hike will last? There are so few with the ideal cut proportions!

Welcome to the Forum Kansas Lady.

With the world's supply of diamonds diminishing and the demand increasing it is not likely that the price hikes will be only temporary. The economy has been horrible yet prices have risen, albeit slowly for the past few years. Realistically, I would expect the hikes to be permanent and the tight supply to be an issue that only gets worse in the years to come.

The overhang that DeBeers once had over the market was mostly sold off to finance them buying their stock back. The Russians probably have some stock pile but who knows how large it might be.

The biggest problem is that the old mines are producing less rough and there is little on the horizon for new mines. One has been in the making in Canada for more than twelve years and is expected to go into full production possibly in 2015 or 2016, but who knows?

These are interesting times!

Wink

 

[Andelain]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

What started that insane price spike of 1980? And what undid it?

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

What started that insane price spike of 1980? And what undid it?

Wow, got a couple of hours???

Along about 1975 there was an outfit called Debeers Consolidated Mines, Inc (not to be confused with the real DeBeers) out of Scottsdale, AZ that started sending out brochures to just about everyone old enough to read touting diamonds as an investment. They did well enough that pretty soon there were imitators setting up boiler room operations all over the United States and Canada. (They may have been in Europe too, but I have no first hand knowledge of this.)

[Side note: I was fortunate enough to be a key witness for the prosecution of DeBeers, Inc in their fraud trial sometime around 1980 or 1981 but it is much too long a story to tell now.]

Gold was also taken off the artificial $35 per ounce standard that it had been officially priced at for decades, even though unofficially it traded higher and silver soared to nearly $4 per ounce in 1975 before settling down a little. I graduated from the GIA in November of 1975 along with my wife who had our son a week or so after her final exam.

We moved to Boise, Idaho and I went to work for a wonderful man, Joe Robinson, at Sexty's Jewelers. Gold had gone all the way up to $225 fairly early in the year and jewelers were all flustered because the man's wedding rings that they used to sell for $30 to $50 dollars were now selling for the unthinkable price of $100 - $150 for a plain solid band in 14kt. Scandalous!

Pretty soon every one started trading commodities and by late 1979 Bunker Hunt and his brother were trying to tie up the Silver market, causing a rocket ship ride for both silver and gold which shot up to $800 per ounce by early Feb 1980.

By then every one and their brother was now suddenly a diamond investor, buying plastic encased diamonds with bogus papers claiming garbage to be golden and prices were going insane. By then the gold bands that I once sold for $35 were now selling for $400 - $500 or more and I was no longer embarrassed to quote the price as I had been when they got to $100.

One day a guy came in with thousands of dollars and begged me to sell him a thousand ounces of silver at $35 per ounce. I refused and told him it was the Tulip Craze from Holland all over again and that it could not last. Three days later when it was at $50 per ounce he came in screaming at me and vowing to sue me for his lost profits as my stupidity had cost him dearly. A week later he came in and thanked me. Many of the large smelters just took their phones off the hook as there was no way they would buy at $50 per ounce. Very few of the "little people could get through to sell their silver or gold.

Then the Feds had enough of Bunkie and his brother and changed the rules for buying a contract of Silver on margin. They had already raised the margin from what ever it was to $5000 and when that did not work they lowered the boom. Silver could only be bought for cash and when tens of thousands of "investors" got margin calls they could not meet, the market came down around their ears. Limit down for days until finally about $15 per ounce the desperate investors were able to sell and many of them were totally bankrupted. Silver got down to about $9 per ounce before it bounced back up to about $16, suckering many back into the market just in time for it to come crashing back down to much lower levels, along with gold at below $300 where they both languished for many years.

With the metals crashing, some rationality returned to the diamond market and it too came tumbling down to levels where average people could again afford to buy a symbol of love.

BUT......................................... if you drew a line from the way back days up through the hectic days to the now "humble" price of diamonds in the mid eighties, you would see that the trend was still upward and that the bottom of the crash was still higher than when the craziness started.

Several authors predicted the end of the evil diamond with its nasty cartel. Still here we are generations older with diamonds still going strong. (I say generations, as I just sold the grandson of one of my first customers a diamond. Pretty cool huh?)

That's the short version and I am sticking to it and I claim full immunity if my numbers are not exactly right. They are close enough for government work and I am too tired to go look them all up. Anyone who wants to say I am off a digit or two is welcome to do so, but those are my memories of what happened.

I could tell you the long version, but the end result is the same. Through it all, I have bought and sold diamonds and gems except for two years when I actually made pretty good money selling commercial real estate. I hated it. There was no soft warm feeling when I sold some guy a building for his business even though the money was fantastic, so I came back into the industry that I have loved for well over half of my life now. I started buying and selling gems in 1970 in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil when I was 24 years old. I am 67 now and plan on doing this as long as I am able since I still get a rush every time I get a thank you letter from the happy recipient of one of my treasures. It is what gets me out of bed in the mornings and keeps me up late at night.

And with that final post of the evening I am going to take my tired old self to bed. See you tomorrow!

Wink

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

Let's try to put this all in perspective. The situation today is a result of evolution in the past years, and some decisions of mid-2013.

At the basis, there is the realization that the absence of any major diamond-find in the past decade will lead to a shortage of rough diamonds somewhere down the line. As a result, the competition for long-term-supplies of rough diamonds is fierce, leading to aberrations.

Mid-2013, the price of rough diamonds was so far out of sync with average prices of polished that the major banks financing the industry reduced their financing of purchases of rough diamonds. With major cutting-houses suddenly having to come up with capital themselves to buy rough, they reduced their purchases, leading to rough coming down to a more 'acceptable' level. A side-result obviously is a serious reduction in production, which is felt today.

With the end of the year at the retail-level being relatively good, we are now looking at the retail-world attempting to re-stock while the supply of new polished is clearly down, especially from the biggest cutting-houses.

The biggest 'shortage' today is in pointers, from 0.30 to 0.99. On the surface, there is no shortage yet in 1Ct-up, but the figures Wink posted indicate that true cut-quality is becoming harder to find. Really telling is to see how the number of GIA-3EX falls to 25% simply by reducing the total depth to an acceptable level.

Live long,

 

[diagem]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I think Avi Krawitz put the situation in the right perspective.

http://www.diamonds.net/News/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=45976&ArticleTitle=Rough+Market+Restraint

I have been reading the analytical reports  Wink mentiones on depleting mines in conjunction with the rise of the East. It makes pure sense but is yet to be proven. This year alone both DeBeers & Russian conglomerates Alrosa produced more Diamonds vs. last year (I think both in value & volume). Alrosa claims huge amounts of deposits (unproven yet) but they did claim to surpass DeBeers (the largest producer) rough production within a few years. It was extremely close to occur this year. I have been reading & studying these analytical reports for a few good years and it seems to me business is usual for an industry expecting depletions in the near future.  We are starting to witness some new behavior patterns occurring within the rough market but they are still to early to publicize officialy although Avi Krawitz defenitly touches the subject pretty spot on!

I do tend to agree with its logic but believe we should also look the other direction and remember we are in a demand driven world as opposed to just a decade ago...
Things are changing and they are changing rapidly. (much faster than I have been expecting). Who knows..., maybe MMD's will balance over-demand in the future if crucially nesesary???? 

In my opinion, databanks such as Rapnet - IDEX - Poligon etc... are loosing ground, manufacturers are forced to  learn new ways to market their products as some already do creatively. Some Indian manufacturers are becoming their own huge proprietors databanks (all a retailer needs at a click of the button) and their databanks are much more detailed. There is no real present purpose to put a premium contender on a open-to-all database such as the ones mentioned above. 

 

[diagem]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

And this just in...
Excellent write up summing up 2013 by Edahn Golan in close relation to this post:

http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp

Happy reading.

 

[Laila619]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I love it that you recut the diamond, Wink! You turned a nice diamond into a great diamond!

I am sad to hear about potential price increases. It is especially hard on young people trying to buy engagement rings. (And hard on any of us who really like diamonds!)

You are so right. When I was just starting in the business an nice 1ct started at about $750 retail and a D-IF was only about 4,000. Then we had the diamond investment craze and a one carat D-IF sold in Feb of 1980 between dealers at the Bourse for $65,000. Then they came crashing down. For a few years you could buy a well cut, but not great cut, D-IF for between 9 and 12 k between dealers. Those days are gone, and they are very unlikely to ever come back now that the Indian market and the Chinese market have blossomed.

OMG, is this really true, you could get a decent 1 ct for $750?!?!?!?

Also, why did so many of our moms and grandmothers have such tiny diamonds if prices were so low back then? Were big diamonds just not popular back then?

 

[Andelain]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

What started that insane price spike of 1980? And what undid it?

Wow, got a couple of hours???

....
Wink

Pretty interesting, thanks Wink. I'd love to hear the story of you being a witness in the DeBeers trial someday, too.

 

[spicyitalian]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

nice reads.

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I love it that you recut the diamond, Wink! You turned a nice diamond into a great diamond!

I am sad to hear about potential price increases. It is especially hard on young people trying to buy engagement rings. (And hard on any of us who really like diamonds!)

You are so right. When I was just starting in the business an nice 1ct started at about $750 retail and a D-IF was only about 4,000. Then we had the diamond investment craze and a one carat D-IF sold in Feb of 1980 between dealers at the Bourse for $65,000. Then they came crashing down. For a few years you could buy a well cut, but not great cut, D-IF for between 9 and 12 k between dealers. Those days are gone, and they are very unlikely to ever come back now that the Indian market and the Chinese market have blossomed.

OMG, is this really true, you could get a decent 1 ct for $750?!?!?!?

Also, why did so many of our moms and grandmothers have such tiny diamonds if prices were so low back then? Were big diamonds just not popular back then?

You have to remember that $750 was a lot of money back then. When I was growing up, upper middle class was in the 20k per year range. Heck a Caddy was only a little over 2k and that was one ridiculously expensive car.

I was making $350 a month when I bought my first wedding set for Resa. We are still married 40+ years later, but she has a couple more wedding rings now. I still laugh over when some snooty lady said to her, "You have awfully nice jewelry for such a young woman."

"Yeah, I sleep with my jeweler."

The lady blanched and quickly swam away into the party, never to speak to her again. I heard about it from a couple of the ladies who were there and have always wished I could actually have seen it.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

What started that insane price spike of 1980? And what undid it?

Wow, got a couple of hours???

....
Wink

Pretty interesting, thanks Wink. I'd love to hear the story of you being a witness in the DeBeers trial someday, too.

That is a looooonnnngggg story and really needs to be told over a drink or two to get properly in the mood. It turns out I was the ONLY gemologist to ever examine a parcel of their diamonds in their facility so they could not claim that the diamonds had been switched when it came to trial. My clients actually died in a plane crash on the way to trial and it was only because my testimony had been switched to Monday instead of Friday that I was not on the plane that went down.

I snuck into town using a false name and stayed at a different hotel as I was fairly sure that it was not an accident and so informed the FAA. It turned out that I was wrong, the pilot took off on the back up vacuum pump, not knowing that the primary had gone bad and when the backup went out he lost instruments while in the clouds and any pilot will tell you that it is virtually impossible to keep level without instruments and no visual references. When you get disoriented sufficiently you rip the wings off and it is just a matter of time until you hit the ground. Cessna paid millions to the families of my clients for not having a warning light tell you when the main pump went down.

When I called the prosecutor on Monday morning he said he had thought I had chickened out when I did not show up on my scheduled flight. When I told him what I had done he said I watched too much TV. Maybe so, but I was alive and ready to testify if he wanted me and so I did, but I had to cool my heels for three days until they finally took my testimony and then they tried to stiff me for the days that I did not work but was away from my store. It took me a while but I finally did get paid.

Anyway, it is a long story and worth thinking about once in a while, but one of the things that I learned was that the government does not play nice. First they tried to tell me that my fee was too high and I told them fine, find someone else to testify that has actually been in their facility and inspected the diamonds that they produce in the presence of both my client and one of their staff. They agreed, in writing to my fee, and then tried after the trial to not pay me for three days of my time. I never accepted another governmental client as an expert witness, simply not worth the hassle.

Today there are much better qualified people for that anyway, full time appraisers like Denver Appraiser who actually enjoy the work and do it better.

So anyway, as I started to say, buy me a drink or two someday and I will tell you the entire story. You may or may not get what you think is your money's worth, but I will enjoy the drinks and meeting you...

Wink

 

[partgypsy]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I love it that you recut the diamond, Wink! You turned a nice diamond into a great diamond!

I am sad to hear about potential price increases. It is especially hard on young people trying to buy engagement rings. (And hard on any of us who really like diamonds!)

You are so right. When I was just starting in the business an nice 1ct started at about $750 retail and a D-IF was only about 4,000. Then we had the diamond investment craze and a one carat D-IF sold in Feb of 1980 between dealers at the Bourse for $65,000. Then they came crashing down. For a few years you could buy a well cut, but not great cut, D-IF for between 9 and 12 k between dealers. Those days are gone, and they are very unlikely to ever come back now that the Indian market and the Chinese market have blossomed.

OMG, is this really true, you could get a decent 1 ct for $750?!?!?!?

Also, why did so many of our moms and grandmothers have such tiny diamonds if prices were so low back then? Were big diamonds just not popular back then?

You have to remember that $750 was a lot of money back then. When I was growing up, upper middle class was in the 20k per year range. Heck a Caddy was only a little over 2k and that was one ridiculously expensive car.

I was making $350 a month when I bought my first wedding set for Resa. We are still married 40+ years later, but she has a couple more wedding rings now. I still laugh over when some snooty lady said to her, "You have awfully nice jewelry for such a young woman."

"Yeah, I sleep with my jeweler."

The lady blanched and quickly swam away into the party, never to speak to her again. I heard about it from a couple of the ladies who were there and have always wished I could actually have seen it.

Wink

Love it! Spaulding Gray used to refer to his wife as his "ex-girlfriend" just to confuse people. There were a number of years I lived with my husband before we got married, and at a number of fancy occasions he would refer to himself as my lover, which embarrassed me terribly. But he wanted to get rise out of people.

 

[Karl_K]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

So anyway, as I started to say, buy me a drink or two someday and I will tell you the entire story. You may or may not get what you think is your money's worth, but I will enjoy the drinks and meeting you...

Wink

If someone takes Wink up on this being a tape recorder and record it and share with the rest of us :}

 

[Karl_K]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

Diamonds are pricing themselves out of the market and its going to get worse for the industry.
If people think China can pick up the slack in the market they are not seeing strait.
People are choosing electronics and or other electronic goods over spending more on diamonds.
The average budget for an ER ring has not went up in years and if anything has fallen but there is less and less value for the money in the diamond market.
I foresee the industry shooting itself in the foot then having to recover taking out the slow and underfunded.

 

[Karl_K]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I think Avi Krawitz put the situation in the right perspective.

http://www.diamonds.net/News/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=45976&ArticleTitle=Rough+Market+Restraint
 

I agree with Avi but think the situation is going to get worse than he predicts maybe not this year but soon.

 

[ChristineRose]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

Ah, the Hunt Brothers. I was a financially minded little kiddie and remember it well. It also was a big part of my incipient interest in frauds, scams, and cons.

I remember the diamonds in little packets as well. They are selling tanzanite and morganite--excuse me, pink emeralds, that way now as well.

I don't usually claim to be psychic (because I think it's another con) but I can predict what's going to happen to the engagement market. First, prices will rise a little. Then designers will rediscover the old tradition of colored stone engagement rings. We'll be seeing more blingy rings with small stones, more fancy metalwork, updated Black Hills Gold-like settings, and more colorful low gold alloys. The average price of an engagement ring will remain about the same as it is now.

 

[Laila619]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

I love it that you recut the diamond, Wink! You turned a nice diamond into a great diamond!

I am sad to hear about potential price increases. It is especially hard on young people trying to buy engagement rings. (And hard on any of us who really like diamonds!)

You are so right. When I was just starting in the business an nice 1ct started at about $750 retail and a D-IF was only about 4,000. Then we had the diamond investment craze and a one carat D-IF sold in Feb of 1980 between dealers at the Bourse for $65,000. Then they came crashing down. For a few years you could buy a well cut, but not great cut, D-IF for between 9 and 12 k between dealers. Those days are gone, and they are very unlikely to ever come back now that the Indian market and the Chinese market have blossomed.

OMG, is this really true, you could get a decent 1 ct for $750?!?!?!?

Also, why did so many of our moms and grandmothers have such tiny diamonds if prices were so low back then? Were big diamonds just not popular back then?

You have to remember that $750 was a lot of money back then. When I was growing up, upper middle class was in the 20k per year range. Heck a Caddy was only a little over 2k and that was one ridiculously expensive car.

I was making $350 a month when I bought my first wedding set for Resa. We are still married 40+ years later, but she has a couple more wedding rings now. I still laugh over when some snooty lady said to her, "You have awfully nice jewelry for such a young woman."

"Yeah, I sleep with my jeweler."

The lady blanched and quickly swam away into the party, never to speak to her again. I heard about it from a couple of the ladies who were there and have always wished I could actually have seen it.

Wink

Hahaha priceless, Wink!

Yeah, I suppose that's true that $750 was still a ton of money back then. You can't even get a half carat for that price anymore now!

 

[Laila619]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

Diamonds are pricing themselves out of the market and its going to get worse for the industry.
If people think China can pick up the slack in the market they are not seeing strait.
People are choosing electronics and or other electronic goods over spending more on diamonds.
The average budget for an ER ring has not went up in years and if anything has fallen but there is less and less value for the money in the diamond market.
I foresee the industry shooting itself in the foot then having to recover taking out the slow and underfunded.

Interesting, Karl. I've been thinking that too. The prices are crazy. 0.40 ct for over $1,000?! I think eventually, people will start saying ENOUGH.

 

[Todd Gray]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

So anyway, as I started to say, buy me a drink or two someday and I will tell you the entire story. You may or may not get what you think is your money's worth, but I will enjoy the drinks and meeting you...

Wink

If someone takes Wink up on this being a tape recorder and record it and share with the rest of us :}

Oh I would LOVE to sit in on that conversation! Not only might I learn something, but it's always fun to sit around and enjoy a few drinks with the good folks from the Crafted by Infinity family.

There is no doubt that diamond prices are going up and that availability is limited, especially in the type of goods that we tend to focus on, but I have to wonder whether diamond prices are really going up, or is it merely a reflection of the value of the dollar diminishing... the one pound block of cheese that I paid 6-7 dollars for a few years ago seems to cost in excess of $10 today and not because cows are in short supply, why should diamonds be any different?

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

Diamonds are pricing themselves out of the market and its going to get worse for the industry.
If people think China can pick up the slack in the market they are not seeing strait.
People are choosing electronics and or other electronic goods over spending more on diamonds.
The average budget for an ER ring has not went up in years and if anything has fallen but there is less and less value for the money in the diamond market.
I foresee the industry shooting itself in the foot then having to recover taking out the slow and underfunded.

Karl,

I can not speak for the industry, but my sales are up dramatically. My sales size is going up strongly too. There are people with money who are not afraid to spend it. Never underestimate the power of love.

There have always been years when I have outpaced the industry and others when I lagged. Hey, I used to blame it on being in Idaho and three to five years behind the trends, but now that I am on the net I have no excuses. Sometimes life is just good, other times it is fantastic.

Either way it is one of the greatest joys of my lucky lucky life to be part of this industry.

Wink

 

[Karl_K]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

Diamonds are pricing themselves out of the market and its going to get worse for the industry.
If people think China can pick up the slack in the market they are not seeing strait.
People are choosing electronics and or other electronic goods over spending more on diamonds.
The average budget for an ER ring has not went up in years and if anything has fallen but there is less and less value for the money in the diamond market.
I foresee the industry shooting itself in the foot then having to recover taking out the slow and underfunded.

Karl,

I can not speak for the industry, but my sales are up dramatically. My sales size is going up strongly too. There are people with money who are not afraid to spend it. Never underestimate the power of love.

There have always been years when I have outpaced the industry and others when I lagged. Hey, I used to blame it on being in Idaho and three to five years behind the trends, but now that I am on the net I have no excuses. Sometimes life is just good, other times it is fantastic.

Either way it is one of the greatest joys of my lucky lucky life to be part of this industry.

Wink

Wink,
Yes there are those that are willing to pay the cost, but are there enough to keep the market up long term? I don't think so.
You and your customers are far from average in a good way.

 

[WinkHPD]

Re: Supply Shortages in popular sizes and grades - Prices up

Wink,
Yes there are those that are willing to pay the cost, but are there enough to keep the market up long term? I don't think so.
You and your customers are far from average in a good way.

Why, thank you, that is a very kind thing to say.

Wink