Interesting times in the diamond industry. After placing half a dozen calls to trusted manufacturing houses to fill a client’s need today, I was pained—but not surprised—to hear that 2 of the six were closing their doors, and another two are holding onto their operations by the skin of their teeth.

While consumers have benefited these past six months from deflated diamond values, dealers and manufacturers have really taken it on the chin. Forced to liquidate diamond inventory to pay bills, and now struggling to close the funding necessary to replace inventory, wholesale diamond dealers and manufacturers are being forced to merge, sell or in some cases close their doors.

Unfortunately, I think this industry wide struggle is only going to get worse. The decline in diamond prices, as we’ve argued before, was due predominantly to the rapid inflation and then sudden deflation of the US dollar. Now that the dollar is showing some signs of weakening again, common sense says diamond prices will come up.

The Boston Diamond Exchange and New England Jewelry Exchange network has today received word from reliable sources just back from Israel that wholesale diamond values are primed to spike. This news is no surprise to many of us since we’ve expected the new US administration ‘s strategy of flooding the economy with dollars coupled with the diamond industry’s halt in gem quality diamond manufacturing to drive prices up, and in short order.

The Rap sheets have yet to change… that is as of 6pm on Tuesday. But don’t be surprised if you see several consecutive price hikes in the coming weeks. For consumers in shop mode, we strongly recommend you to move prudently but quickly to take advantage of these diamond prices. We don’t expect them to stay this low for much longer. If you have questions about diamonds, the industry or how to go about getting your hands on a diamond for an engagement ring or finished piece of jewelry, please don’t hesitate to contact us by phone or through one of the form fills on the web site.