Diamond industry in 2011 - So far, so good

The year 2011 started very positively for global diamond industry. The current indicators show that not only rough diamond prices but also polished diamond prices are rising because of perceived supply shortages.

On the other hand the demand for diamonds on two new large markets, namely China and India, is constantly growing. This was the main reason for the increase in price of rough diamonds in 2010, and it certainly looks like this trend will continue in 2011 as well.

De Beers, the largest diamond company in the world, which roughly controls 40% of the rough diamond market were also optimistic saying that they expect further increase of rough diamond prices throughout the year.

The last quarter of 2011 should be the most positive because of the holiday season. Last year's holiday season was the main reason why rough diamond prices returned to the pre-recession level.

The world's largest diamond producer is Russia. Alrosa, Russia's state-owned diamond producer reported excellent numbers for 2010, namely revenue of $3.4 billion in 2010 which is around 1.5 times bigger than the 2009 revenue. They expect even bigger revenue for 2011.