Fashion
Diamond selling processes are outdated and hurting producers, trader says
By
Reuters
Published
September 18, 2025
The sale of diamonds through tenders and auctions is opaque and inefficient and should be revamped for producers to earn more and to survive the current price slump, a leading gem trader said on Thursday.
Oded Mansori, co-founder and managing partner of Belgian gem trader HB Antwerp, said the impact on producers could be reduced by doing away with inefficiencies in the industry.
The diamond market is currently going through a prolonged downturn with demand hurt by global economic uncertainty and the rising popularity of lab-grown stones.
Producer countries such as Botswana have been hard hit by lower revenues, while miners such Burgundy and Lesotho’s biggest diamond mine Letseng have had to lay off workers.
“For years, miners relied on tenders and auctions, systems that look efficient on paper but in practice resemble a casino,” Mansori said in a statement, as the industry battles a crisis considered to be its deepest in history.
“Rough stones are pushed into opaque markets where value is anyone’s guess. When global demand softens, as it has in cycles over the last decade, producers are left exposed. Workers pay the price, while shareholders watch assets decline,” he added.
Rough diamonds are typically sold through a competitive bidding system where buyers place confidential bids on individual stones or parcels.
Mansori, whose company operates a profit-sharing model with miner Lucara Diamond Corp, says producers’ revenues should be tied to the eventual polished value of its stones “rather than gambling on rough sales in opaque auctions”.
Under its partnership with Lucara, HB Antwerp buys stones of 10.8 carat quality and above from the Toronto-listed company’s Karowe Mine in central Botswana at prices based on the estimated polished value of each diamond.
HB Antwerp accounted for 72% of Lucara’s $74 million diamond revenue in the six months to June 30, up from 65% the year before.
The trader says producers can earn up to 40% more revenue if they sell through this model.
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A total of 25 pilot investments led by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have progressed from the lab to near-market stage under RegioGreenTex, a three-year European Union (EU)-funded project that recently concluded. Most of these are expected to be commercialised within one to three years.
Twenty five pilot investments led by SMEs moved from lab to near‑market under RegioGreenTex, an EU-funded project that ended recently.
Most of these are expected to commercialise in one to three years.
Five regional hubs mapped SME needs and developed services and value chains as well as tools to help SMEs.
These are now open for collaboration and the pilot portfolio is primed for investors and adopters.
At least 70 per cent of the EU grant was allocated to SMEs. A total of 43 partners from 11 regions across eight countries participated in the project, leveraging their expertise towards a common goal of advancing industry and research.
RegioGreenTex was one of the first projects funded under the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) Instrument programme that focused on process, service and business model innovation, developing advanced textile recycling technologies, regional recycling hubs, and a digital ecosystem for matchmaking and capacity building.
Five regional hubs mapped SME needs and developed services and value chains as well as tools that keep helping SMEs, an official release said.
The RegioGreenTex Digital Tool keeps matchmaking, sharing trainings and hosting the participants’ knowledge base.
The Waste Wizard shows how artificial intelligence-enhanced matchmaking can link leftover textiles with the right reuse or recycling routes.
From recycled-content yarn processes (Tintex) to Recycrom low-impact dyeing (Officina39), ultrasonic quilting for full recyclability (Rovitex) and hybrid recycled-fibre yarns (Hilaturas Mar), the pilots showed concrete, repeatable ways to cut impact without losing performance.
The hubs are now open for collaboration, the digital tools are live and the pilot portfolio is primed for investors and adopters.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
While trends in high frequency indicators for January-February 2026 appear favourable, the heightened uncertainty around the duration of the Middle East conflict casts a shadow on the near-term macroeconomic outlook for India amid high import dependency for items like crude oil, natural gas and fertilisers, it noted.
India’s FY27 GDP growth is likely to slow to 6.5 per cent from the projected 7.5 per cent in FY26 owing to the impact of higher energy prices and concerns around energy availability, ICRA Ratings said.
The heightened uncertainty around the duration of the Iran war casts a shadow on the near-term macroeconomic outlook for India.
If the conflict lasts longer, the adverse effects could widen across sectors.
If the conflict lasts for an extended period, the adverse implications of the same could widen across sectors, amid an uptick in input costs and the consequent impact on profitability of the India corporate sector.
Amid the projected uptrend in the consumer price index-based inflation in FY27 with risks tilted to the upside, ICRA Ratings expects an extended pause on the policy rates by the central bank’s monetary policy committee in the fiscal despite the anticipated softening in the GDP growth. However, it expects the Reserve Bank of India to continue to intervene on the liquidity front during FY27.
The available data for January–February FY2026 indicate a positive trend across most non-agricultural indicators, with the year-on-year performance of 12 out of 18 indicators improving compared to the third quarter of FY26, while the remaining six deteriorated.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Indonesia’s apparel exports rose modestly to $8.705 billion in 2025 from $8.316 billion in 2024, reflecting gradual recovery.
The US remained dominant, accounting for over 56 per cent of shipments, highlighting growing market dependence.
While Japan, South Korea and Europe offered stability, exports stayed concentrated in key products and segments.
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