The Morning Loupe
Daily Brief Archive
An analyst's view of rough diamonds, polished diamonds, and demand, delivered each trading morning and readable in the time it takes to finish your first cup of coffee.
Small stones lead as US holiday demand firms
De Beers' realized rough price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year-on-year for Q2 — a quarterly benchmark rather than today's move, but it frames how far the miner…
Demand rotates into smaller stones as polished firms
De Beers' Q2 realized price sits at $110/ct, still down 37% year-on-year, so the rough correction remains the market's backdrop rather than a fresh move. With…
Recovery Broadens into Smaller Stones as U.S. Holiday Demand Firms
De Beers still marks rough at $110/ct, down 37% year on year through Q2, and has paused the Venetia mine for two years. Miners are defending the floor through…
Demand Rotates into Smaller Stones as Rough Holds Soft
De Beers’ realized price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year on year in Q2 2026. Rough pricing remains structurally soft, so disciplined buying still beats chasing…
Polished Firms into the Holidays While Rough Stays Soft at the Mine Gate
De Beers’ realized price sits at $110/ct, down 37% YoY in Q2. This is quarterly data, not today’s move, but the message holds: mine-gate pricing remains struct…
Demand Rotates into Smaller Stones as Rough Stays Pressured
De Beers' realized rough price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year on year for Q2. Producers are keeping volumes tight rather than chasing a thin market, so rough r…
Small Polished Goods Firm as Rough Remains Soft
De Beers' realized rough price sat near $110/ct in Q2, down about 37% year over year. Producer pricing is still absorbing much of the pipeline's weakness, keep…
Polished Firms at the Small End While Rough Remains Near Lows
De Beers' realized price sits at $110/ct, still down 37% year over year in Q2. Rough remains near multi-year lows, with no broad producer-price recovery yet re…
Smaller Stones Lead Polished as Hong Kong Show Opens
De Beers' Q2 realized price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year over year. This is the latest producer reading and remains deeply soft. With rough this cheap versus…
Demand Rotates into Smaller Stones as Polished Firms
De Beers' average realized rough price held at $110/ct in Q2, down 37% year over year. Producers are defending volume over price, so rough remains low, creatin…
Small Stones Lead the Polished Recovery While Rough Keeps Resetting
De Beers' average selling price sits at $110/ct in Q2, down roughly 37% year over year. This is a quarterly, backward-looking figure, but it shows that the rou…
Polished Recovery Holds, Led by Smaller Stones
De Beers' average realized price sits near $110/ct, roughly 37% below a year ago in Q2 2026, while major producers' first-half revenue fell sharply, with De Be…
Smaller Polished Goods Lead Ahead of Hong Kong Week
De Beers' realized price remains at $110/ct, still down 37% year over year in Q2, but the producer signal is beginning to improve: Gem Diamonds returned to a f…
Smaller Stones Carry the Polished Recovery While Demand Signals Stay Split
Gem Diamonds returned to a first-half profit as prices for larger, better-quality rough firmed, while De Beers' realized price still sits at $110/ct, down 37%…
Polished Recovery Holds in Smaller Stones While Rough Pricing Stays Soft
De Beers' average realized price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year over year in Q2. This is a reminder that producer pricing is still soft this cycle, keeping rou…
The Polished Recovery Is a Small-Stone Story
De Beers' price benchmark holds at $110/ct, still down 37% YoY through Q2. The rough reset remains structural, not a passing dip. Lucara's US$350M senior secur…
Polished Recovery Rotates into Smaller Stones
De Beers' realized rough price sits near $110/ct, down 37% year over year in Q2, a quarterly figure. Producers are responding to weak pricing with supply disci…
Smaller Polished Diamonds Lead the Recovery While the Macro Backdrop Stays Cautious
De Beers' most recent realized price sits at $110/ct in Q2 2026, still down 37% year over year, with no fresh rough-price print today. The baseline heading int…
Small Stones Lead as Gold’s Rally Reshapes the Jewelry Counter
De Beers' realized rough price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year on year for the quarter. Producers are still defending price by holding volume back rather than c…
Polished Firms at the Small End While Gold Overshadows the Retail Counter
De Beers' realized price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year over year in Q2, and India's July polished exports fell 18% YoY to $876M. The midstream is still runnin…
Small Stones Firm as Gold’s Rally Pulls the Retail Spotlight
De Beers' realized rough price sits at $110/ct, down 37% year on year in Q2, while Alrosa is pushing a state-backed domestic cutting cluster within Russia. Rou…
Small Stones Lead a Quiet Polished Recovery as Gold Pulls at the Retail Wallet
De Beers' average selling price held near $110/ct in Q2 2026, roughly 37% below a year ago, and Alrosa is advancing a state-backed domestic cutting cluster in…
Demand Rotates into Smaller Stones While Rough Stays Soft
De Beers' average selling price sits at $110/ct, still about 37% below a year earlier on the Q2 comparison. This reflects a rough market that has repriced shar…
Smaller Stones Firm as 1 ct Goods Stall
De Beers rough is $110/ct, down 37% YoY as of Q2. This is a quarterly benchmark, not a fresh move, but it shows how deep the rough-pricing reset has become. Wi…
Rough Supply Rises While Smaller Polished Diamonds Continue to Firm
De Beers' Q2 report shows production nearly doubled year over year, while the average realized price fell 37% to $110/ct. More goods are available now at lower…
Supply Keeps Exiting the Market as De Beers Resets Prices
De Beers has told clients it will align its book prices with the market at the July sight, which opens Monday in Gaborone, after listed prices had been running…
Demand Shifts to Smaller Goods as De Beers Tightens the Pipeline
During the July sales cycle, De Beers cut official rough-diamond prices and narrowed its sightholder roster from roughly 70 to 45–50. The primary pipeline is c…
De Beers Set to Ease Rough-Diamond Prices at the July Sight
According to Rapaport, De Beers is poised to lower prices or widen discounts at the July Sight after listed prices for smaller goods remained 20% to 30% above…