Fancy Color Diamond Index: Fancy yellow diamonds deliver strongest growth in Q4’15

The Fancy Color Diamond Index stated demand of the fancy color diamond category performed in a stable manner, with demand being better-than-expected holiday sales season in the US but sluggish in Asia.

The fourth quarter of 2015 marked the category’s overall prices growing on average 0.3 percent.

Fancy yellow diamonds delivered the strongest performance, with a 1.1 percent growth. Among fancy yellow size categories, 3carat and 5carat demonstrated price increases of 2.7 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, likely driven by low availability in rough diamond tenders. White diamonds rebounded to show price increases in December according to RAPI™, fuelled by supply shortages.

In the three months, the strongest non-yellow performers were 1carat and 1.5carat Fancy Vivid Blues and Pinks, witnessing price increases of 4.4 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. Overall, the fancy blue category logged small price declines, after demonstrating significant price increases in the last two calendar quarters. % %The study indicated that the market is showing clear preferences towards fancy intense and fancy vivid, at the expense of the lighter color fancy category, which registered softened demand.

FCRF Advisory Board member Jim Pounds, Senior Vice President, Diamond Management at Dominion Diamond Corporation (DDC), commented that “Mining companies have effectively shut down a considerable portion of their rough diamond production, especially in Africa, around mid-2015, resulting in market shortages across color and size categories, as reflected in the index results.”

The Fancy Color Diamond Index reflected a practically flat outcome when compared to Q4 of 2014, with blue fancy color up 1.7 percent, pink fancy color up 0.5 percent and yellow fancy color diamonds down 1.8 percent. Across all color segments, fancy intense and fancy vivid demonstrated robust price increases, which were partly offset by price declines of color diamonds in the fancy category.

The Fancy Color Diamond Index is published by Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF), and tracks pricing trends for yellow, pink and blue fancy color diamonds in three key global trading centers – Hong Kong, New York and Tel Aviv.