Coronavirus dampens diamond auction

Gemfields said its latest auction brought in $11.5 million.

Of the 25 lots offered, 76% were sold. Average price was $4.01 per carat, a fall from the $4.75 per carat Gemfields reported at its auction in August.

Adrian Banks, Gemfields’ Managing Director of Product & Sales, said the Hong Kong diamond market has “endured multiple successive misfortunes.”

“The results of our first auction of 2020 are in line with prior auctions of commercial quality emeralds and demonstrate a stable underlying market,” said Banks. “It was however evident that the fallout of COVID-19–the corona virus–dampened what might otherwise have been a buoyant result. Firstly, the uncertainty surrounding Chinese consumer demand in the wake of COVID-19 has understandably created negative sentiment in the mid-stream market. Secondly, a handful of our key auction customers did not travel to Lusaka as a result of the increased risk associated with COVD-19 and thirdly, the Hong Kong market–important for both gemstones and jewellery–has had to endure multiple successive misfortunes”.

Courtesy: KITCO