As the Obama era draws to a close and a newly elected president is about to take office, some diamond industry leaders seem optimistic about their expectations for jewelry and diamond trading in the coming year. According to a piece on Rapaport News, reported by Art of Jewelry, confidence among industry leaders is “fairly high that [Trump’s] proposed economic policies will improve trading conditions”.
The Interviewees – Michael Meirov, CEO of Israel-based MID Diamonds; Sabyasachi Ray, Mumbai-based executive director of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council; and Stephane Fischler, Antwerp-based partner at manufacturing and trading company Fischler Diamonds – did not reach a consensus about a forecast for polished diamond prices in 2017.
Meirov said that he expects the next year to be a good one: “The mood in the stock market is optimistic, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading at record levels. Wall Street is going to get bonuses in 2017 – things look bright”.
Ray commented on the strengthened US jewelery retail, and predicted that the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) “will give a big push to the industry”. He also said that to aid differentiation between natural and lab-grown diamonds, “US jewellers should lobby the government into introducing legislation on a harmonized code for lab-grown diamonds, as is the case in some other countries”.
Fischler said he expects “a more positive effect for the market and high retail sales overall” but not higher polished prices. Fischler added that he expects “some” strengthening of rough prices.
