Botswana’s De Beers Stake Review Nears Its September Deadline

Trade Alerts

What you need to act on

• InfoIndustry15 Sept

  Qatar Diamond Exchange signs its first European bourse alliance — MoU with Italy's Borsa Diamanti d'Italia

  Signed Sept 15 at CIBJO's centenary congress in Vicenza and reported Sept 17, the MoU gives members of both bourses reciprocal access to each other's tenders, auctions, viewings and events. It is QDE's first European tie-up, after earlier MoUs with the Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo exchanges — extending its network from Asia into Europe.

  What to do: If you source or sell through Gulf or Italian channels, register interest with QDE / Borsa Diamanti now so you can use the new cross-bourse tender, auction and viewing access when building Q4 buying and selling plans.

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• InfoPrices12 Sept

  India's August gem & jewellery exports rise 3% to $2.30B; cut-and-polished diamonds hold at $925M (–5% YoY)

  GJEPC data released Sept 12 shows India's total gem & jewellery exports up 3% YoY to $2.30bn in August. Cut-and-polished diamond exports were $925M, down just 5% YoY — a sharp improvement on July's ~18% drop.

  What to do: Treat the narrowing decline as a stabilisation signal for Indian-cut polished demand — factor it into Q4 inventory and quoting, and note the shift toward studded/value-added jewellery when planning your mix. Watch whether the RAPI recovery holds.

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• PrepareIndustry9 Sept

  Signet posts +2.2% same-store sales and raises guidance — US fine-jewelry demand firm, average prices up 6%

  Signet (Kay/Zales/Jared, the largest US specialty jeweler) reported Q2 FY27 on Sept 9: same-store sales +2.2% with positive comps across every fine-jewelry brand, average unit retail up 6%, gross margin above 39%, and a swing back to net profit (>$52M vs a prior-year loss). It raised full-year same-store-sales guidance to flat-to-+2.5%.

  What to do: Read this as a firm US retail-demand signal into Q4: hold quoting discipline on bridal and natural goods and weight your assortment toward higher-ticket pieces — average selling prices are rising, not falling — rather than defaulting to discounts.

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• InfoIndustry7 Sept

  CIBJO recommends "synthetic" as the sole descriptor for created stones; national disclosure law still governs

  On September 7, 2026, at the close of its Centenary Congress in Vicenza, the CIBJO board approved a recommendation from its Diamond and Coloured Stone Commissions that the Blue Books be revised so that "synthetic" becomes the sole descriptor for a created product with the same chemical composition, physical properties and structure as its naturally occurring counterpart. The board explicitly acknowledged that "laboratory-grown" and "laboratory-created" are consumer marketing terms accepted in certain jurisdictions, and that national law or regulations take precedence there; CIBJO recommends "synthetic" when communicating to an international audience. No effective date for the revised Blue Books was announced. Correction: an earlier version of this alert described the change as a mandate in force from September 2026 and as restricting the 4Cs to natural diamonds. Neither was adopted.

  What to do: Nothing is binding on you today — CIBJO sets standards, not law, and your local disclosure rules remain the compliance baseline for how man-made stones are described to consumers. Where you deal with counterparties that follow CIBJO terminology (labs, bourses, export documentation), use "synthetic" and expect to see it in incoming paperwork. Wait for the revised Blue Books before rewriting consumer-facing marketing.

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• PrepareIndustry6 Sept

  Bain 2026 holiday outlook: US retail tops $1T (+4.5%) but jewelry lags — 43% of shoppers plan to spend less on it

  Bain's holiday forecast (Sept 6) sees US Nov–Dec sales up 4.5% YoY (vs 3.5% last year), passing $1 trillion for the first time — but jewelry is a low-priority category: 43% of consumers plan to spend less on jewelry and only 18% more, with Gen Z the main bright spot. Inflation accounts for over half the nominal gain.

  What to do: Plan Q4 assortment and stock now: don't assume a broad high-end rebound — weight toward value price-points and Gen-Z-oriented pieces, keep high-ticket inventory lean, and price for a value-conscious, promotion-driven holiday.

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