(IDEX Online News) – The IDEX polished diamond price index was down slightly in October, declining very slightly during the month. <?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>
The Index began the month at 125.73 and ended at 123.67.
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Outlook
The big event in November is the Diwali festival in India. News reports suggested that many diamond manufacturing factories were likely to allow their employees to take a longer break by not reopening plants immediately after the holiday which will last three to four weeks.
More than that, it is possible that there will be large-scale job cuts with inventories high and sales only firm at best.
Proof of the high inventory levels and that wholesalers and retailers are fully stocked for the holiday season came with De Beers' results for the eighth sale of 2018 published towards the end of October.
For the first time this year, sales fell below the $500 million mark, coming in at $475 million.