Simon Fleundy, Mail on Sunday
17 September 2006
Starlet Lindsay Lohan was lucky to track down the diamonds she lost at Heathrow airport last week – soaring gem prices mean replacing them would probably have cost her a lot more than their reputed $1m (£530,000) value.
Tim George, chairman and chief executive of diamond prospector Xceldiam, said prices were expected to rise 30% annually for the next few years after last year’s 95% surge.
‘There is a supply issue with some large mines becoming played out, but there is also a lot of new demand,’ he said.
‘China, which represents only two to three per cent of the £16 billion-a-year retail gem trade, is growing incredibly rapidly. India is also seeing sales soar 15 per cent a year.’
Small, rough diamonds trade in bulk for about $150 (£80) a carat. Bigger stones cost much more – about $10,000 for a ten-carat stone or millions of dollars for a 50 or 60-carat rock. Cutting and polishing quadruples the price before a jeweller sets the stone and sells it to a celebrity or a man about to go down on one knee.
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