Prices of fancy-color diamonds fell 0.3% in the first quarter compared with the previous three months as consumers remained cautious due to impending US tariffs.
Pink fancy colors decreased 0.1%, with 1.5-carat, fancy-vivid-pink diamonds seeing the largest decrease, down 2.3%, FCRF said Wednesday. However, overall, the fancy-vivid-pink color category was the strongest, particularly among larger stones, including 10 carats, which rose 3%, and 5 carats, up 1.1%.
Prices of blue fancy-color diamonds slipped 0.5% from the previous quarter. The color category is a mixed bag, not included in either the top climbers or the worst performers, suggesting the market is “neither strongly rebounding nor sharply deteriorating,” FCRF commented. Meanwhile, yellow fancy-color prices declined 0.7% for the quarter. Four out of five of the largest price decreases were in the yellow category, led by the 3-carat, fancy-intense version, which dropped 3%.
All of the top five climbers were pink, while 1.5-carat, fancy-vivid-pink diamonds were also among the top five sliders. Over the past 12 months all fancy-color diamonds fell 2.5%. Fancy-color pinks dropped 1.2%, fancy-color blues were down 1.9% and fancy-color yellows slumped 6%.
Since the FCRF first began collecting data in 2005, pink diamonds have increased by 394%, blue diamonds have grown 242% and yellows have gained 49%, it said.
“While global trade anxieties — particularly around renewed US tariff proposals — have undoubtedly created caution across luxury sectors, the fancy-color diamond market remained impressively composed,” said FCRF CEO Roy Safit. “In fact, given the sharp rhetoric around import duties and reshoring, many expected a more dramatic correction. Instead, the data shows a contained, strategic repositioning. It speaks to the market’s growing maturity and the defensive appeal of vivid-color diamonds.”
Image: Pink and Blue polished diamonds. (Fancy Color Research Foundation)
