Rough Diam Prices (Fri, 18 Mar) - Mentioned by Will Purcell The recent dip in rough diamond prices has slackened, according to Paul Zimnisky's global rough diamond price index, but the decline has now run for a fourth consecutive week since prices set an all-time high in mid-February. With this week's 0.1-per-cent drop, prices are now off 1.1 per cent in the past month. Not to worry, diamantaires, analysts and promoters all agree, the outlook is rosy -- one hopes not as rosy as it appeared in the spring of 2011, when the last big rally in rough prices stalled, leading to a decade of stagnation in the diamond sector.
That historical overhang mutes the recent record. Mr. Zimnisky's index shows that rough prices are up 31 per cent over the past year and they are about 70 per cent above their pandemic low, set two years ago. Further, prices are 31 per cent above their levels of spring, 2017 and about 20 per cent higher than March of 2011. Nevertheless, North American investors still shun diamond exploration and development projects as they did in the bleakest days of the Great Recession.