According to a recent report by Rapoport, in the USA there is still demand for commercial grade diamonds, which are used for weddings and engagements. Commercial grade engagement stones are usually rounds 0.75 to 1.5 ct, F-H, VS2-S12. Most of the consumers these days were only interested in engagement and wedding jewelry.The supply of premium cut and higher clarity grades have fallen, probably because of the low profit margins, causing an increase in the prices of existing stock.
The Israel diamond market appears stable. There is good demand for 0.5-1.5 carat diamonds. Diamantaires who returned to Israel from the Hong Kong Jewellery Show were satisfied with the orders and expect a much better second half of the year. Israeli participants at the show also reported that there was good trading in diamonds.
Belgium based dealers who returned from the Hong Kong show were also satisfied with their sales. They noted that there was a good demand for rounds, greater than 0.4 carat.
The Hong Kong diamond market has shown improvements in the past one month probably due to the June Hong Kong Jewellery Show.
In India large and medium scale diamond companies were engaged in buying large stocks of rough diamonds as they expect shortage of rough stones in the near future.
The wholesellers in the Chinese market felt that there was improvement in the market compared to tha same period last year. June is usually a quiet month in China. The Shenzhen market is currently more active than the Shanghai market.