Pink Diamond Prices Firm in 1Q

RAPAPORT... Pink fancy-color diamonds outperformed other major colorcategories in price terms during the first quarter, the Fancy Color ResearchFoundation (FCRF) said. "At a time of diamond-market uncertainty, fueled by growingwhite-diamond inventory and the emergence of lab-grown diamonds, mostcategories of fancy-color diamonds are showing continued pricing stability,with the pink segment posting slight price increases," said Oren Schneider, anFCRF advisory board member. Prices for pinks grew 0.5% quarter on quarter for thethree months ending March 31, according to the FCRF, which released itsquarterly Fancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) last week. By contrast, overall prices of blue fancy-color diamonds, which previously held the top spot, declined0.2% compared to the previous quarter. Yellows slipped 1.5%, causing theoverall index for fancy-color diamonds to fall 0.2%. "The color-diamond market as a whole is in a slowdown, following the hyper price rises of the past years," added Alan Bronstein, president of the Natural Color Diamond Association. "Demand always goes through cycles where values rise and fall." Diamonds weighing 1 caratshowed the best performance in both the fancy-yellow and fancy-intense-blue categoriesduring the quarter, according to the FCRF. The segment was led by the 3- and 5-carat vivid-pink categories, which increased by an average of 3.1%. In February, the FCRF predicted a rise in the price ofyellow diamonds for 2019, as Dominion Diamond Mines' Ekati deposit - one ofthe main suppliers of those stones - transitions from open-pit tounderground mining. The group cautioned there would be a shortage of supply during the transition phase. The Fancy Color Diamond Index tracks pricesof yellow, pink and blue fancy-color diamonds in Hong Kong, New York and Tel Aviv. Image: A pink diamond. (Fancy Color Research Foundation)