Demand for Diamonds........Bloomberg AUG 7: For the first time in 25 years, diamond production is declining and that may make the world’s most coveted stones a better investment than copper, nickel and zinc, this year’s top- performing commodities.
Diamonds have "the best fundamentals," said Evy Hambro, who manages the $6.6 billion World Mining Fund in London for Merrill Lynch. "The gap between supply and demand is much bigger relative to other commodities."
``Diamonds could very well outperform base metals'' in the coming years, said Andrew Ferguson, who manages about $313 million at New City Investment Managers Ltd. in London. ``Given the huge increases in demand and the imbalances in supply, I expect good returns.'' Global demand may rise 6 percent a year to $23 billion by 2015.
Diamond investments will enjoy ``above-average'' returns in the next several years, according to Trevor Steel, who manages $600 million in natural- resource assets at Baker Steel Capital Managers in London. ``Prices of diamonds and precious metals generally are more resilient to the short-term effects of an economic slowdown compared with base metals.''
"Diamond stocks have underperformed other mining stocks in this commodity bull-run," says New York- based James Passin, whose $500 million Firebird Global Fund has a 10 percent holding in diamond stocks. "This is about to change."
Be like Bav...............