Traceability in the luxury sector was the topic of the latest Rapaport Diamond Podcast episode, which featured two experts from the field. Margot Stuart, chief operating officer and cofounder of OriginAll, a platform that helps people distinguish fakes from genuine products, and Felicitas Morhart, vice dean and professor of marketing at the Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC Lausanne) in Switzerland, joined Rapaport’s Joshua Freedman to discuss the subject. They also talked about OriginalLuxury, an initiative the pair have been working on that provides information and events to help the se ..read more

BHP with a market valuation of $149B made a $38.8B bid for Anglo American. Anglo’s shares jumped 12% early today to a market valuation of $41B following the bid. In a statement Anglo American confirmed that “it is has received an unsolicited, non-binding and highly conditional combination proposal from BHP Group Limited (“BHP”).” And that “there can be no certainty that any offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any such offer might be made.” The primary motivation for the deal is BHP’s desire to obtain Anglo’s copper mines. Copper demand and prices are expected to surge as global dem ..read more

De Beers will relocate its auctions headquarters from Singapore to Gaborone, Botswana, amid cost-cutting efforts at the diamond miner. “The relocation supports De Beers’ focus on streamlining its operations and enhancing the efficiency of its activities, while also facilitating further development of the diamond sector in Botswana,” the company said Thursday. The De Beers Group Auctions business, which sells around 10% of the company’s rough-diamond production, will pause operations and sales events until the move is complete. The process will take place over the coming months, the miner added ..read more

In mid-2023, as China’s real-estate crisis lingered, property firms started to offer gold bars as an incentive to buy their apartments. Unlike real estate, gold is perceived to hold its value, the theory went. Then again, companies also presented new cars, cell phones, free decorations and parking lots to woo customers and boost sales. Their efforts bore little fruit, however, as supply continued to outweigh demand. Housing starts have fallen by more than 60% relative to pre-pandemic levels, according to a February Report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The property slump, along wit ..read more

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is now offering printed versions of AGS Ideal grading reports following its integration of AGS Laboratories. The GIA adopted the product as a digital-only supplement to its own reports when it acquired elements of AGS’s laboratories in 2022. The certificate measures light performance, including brightness, fire, and contrast. The document is available with regular GIA grading reports and dossiers for both natural and lab-grown diamonds, as well as with e-reports and diamond focus reports, the GIA said last week. The move comes after the GIA returned t ..read more

Belgian’s diamond industry says it takes issue with the implementation of sanctions on Russian diamonds and not with the sanctions themselves. However, Ari Epstein’s resignation as CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has brought unrest over the import ban into focus. Rapaport Senior Analyst Joshua Freedman reports.  The post Antwerp Resignation Highlights Tension over Sanctions appeared first on Rapaport ..read more

Swiss watch exports recorded a steep decline in March as demand in China and Hong Kong dipped below that of four years ago, during the height of the pandemic. Shipments of timepieces slid 16% to CHF 2 billion ($2.2 billion) for the month, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry reported Thursday. The downturn followed a 3.8% fall in February, the first drop in more than two years, as appetite began to falter in Asia. “Swiss watch exports recorded a sharp decline in March,” the federation noted. “China and Hong Kong accounted for a particularly high proportion of the trend. China suffered a ..read more

What is the Rapaport team reading? Our editors and reporters sat down to pick content from around the web that’s helped expand their knowledge of the diamond and jewelry industry this week. Leah’s Selection: Watches and Wonders 2024: How Women Are Driving the Luxury Watch Market (Euronews) “At a time when gender lines are becoming fuzzier in the jewelry world, the latest offerings at the most recent Watches and Wonders show were on point. Big brands have taken notice that this formerly male-dominated segment is now a playground for women as well. From gender-fluid timepieces to a varie ..read more

Production at Rio Tinto’s Diavik mine in Canada slid in the first quarter after the miner halted production to allow workers to grieve for colleagues who died in a plane crash. Output fell 22% year on year to 740,000 carats for the three months that ended March 31, Rio Tinto said Tuesday. However, production was 12% higher than the previous quarter, during which the miner closed two kimberlite pipes and produced lower-grade ore. The company processed 343,000 tonnes of ore during the quarter, a 20% drop from the same period the year before and 12% down from the previous quarter. In January, a p ..read more

First-quarter sales at LVMH slipped amid a slowdown from the luxury firm’s jewelry and watch brands as well as weak domestic spending in China. Revenue for the watch and jewelry category fell 5% year on year to EUR 2.47 billion ($2.62 billion) during the three months that ended March 31, LVMH said Tuesday. The luxury conglomerate did not provide a reason for the downturn in jewelry. It noted that during the period, Tiffany & Co. launched its first exhibition, in addition to a new global campaign showcasing its icons that proved extremely successful. Meanwhile, Bulgari relaunched its B.zero ..read more