According to the organisation – which has tracked colour diamond prices for more than a decade based on sales data collected in major international diamond trading markets – prices fell by less than one percent during the past calendar year.
Blues saw the biggest dip, falling by 1.3 per cent, while yellows and pinks decreased by 0.3 and 0.9 per cent respectively.
In terms of colour grades, vivid prices fell by 0.4 per cent, intense prices by 0.9 per cent and fancy prices by 1 per cent.
However, fourth-quarter data saw prices beginning to stabilise. While blue fancy diamonds fell by 0.5 per cent compared to Q3 2020, driving an overall 0.1 fall across the sector as a whole, pinks and yellows remained steady.
Eden Rachminov, a member of the FCRF advisory board, attributed the trends to several different factors: “2020 was a fascinating year; wholesalers and retailers alike had to overcome many logistical hurdles in order to finalise simple transactions, while demand for fancy colour diamonds was solid,” he said.
Rachminov added, “I expect 2021 to be a bullish year for yellows, their current price is relatively low, and I think that a price increase is inevitable.”
In April 2020, FCRF suspended its quarterly reports due to a decrease in trade associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which left it unable to calculate accurate price estimations.
According to FCRF’s historic data, colour diamond prices experienced a dramatic surge in 2009 and have since held steady at a high plateau.
However, the closure of Western Australia’s Argyle Mine – the world’s premier source of pink diamonds and a major source of blues – at the end of 2020 is expected to significantly impact prices in coming years.
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