Prices 'Not Coming Down in a Hurry' - Titan

RAPAPORT... Titan Company's diamond-sourcing costs have jumped in the past eight months, prompting the Indian retailer to pass price increases on to shoppers, its top jewelry executive said.The jeweler raised consumer prices in November 2021, January 2022 and March 2022 in response to higher procurement expenses, reported Ajoy Chawla, CEO of the company's jewelry division, in an August 5 investor conference call. "It continues to be quite a ride so far," Chawla said during the session, which followed the release of Titan's quarterly results. "I do not think prices are coming down in a hurry. There were some minor corrections here and there, but it is supply-led...and we do not know, we might have to [implement] some more price increases maybe by the end of the quarter if things continue to be like this."The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI?,,?) for 1-carat diamonds grew 7.4% between the beginning of the year and July 1. Titan buys most of its polished from diamond manufacturers - including sightholders - and places them in jewelry. "We have had to [implement] price increases in our selling price of finished goods (diamond-studded jewelry), which factors in increases in our procurement cost price," Chawla explained Tuesday in an email to Rapaport News. "The timing of procurement and the timing of sale is different, and the eventual impact on studded-jewelry margins will stabilize over the next few quarters."Another consequence has been an increase in the proportion of jewelry value attributable to diamonds, Chawla said on the call. Indian retailers usually give consumers a breakdown of the cost, telling them how much of their money is going toward the gold, the diamonds, the production costs or the taxes.Image: A Titan store in Deoghar, Jharkhand, India. (Shutterstock)