RapNet the world’s largest diamond trading network with daily listings of over $7.4 billion will be voting on whether it should provide diamond listing and pricing services for synthetic diamonds. Voting will be limited to registered RapNet members who login to RapNet.Com and will take place from Sunday May 26 through Friday May 31, 2019.
The results of the vote will be announced at the Rapaport Breakfast on Sunday, June 2, 2019 at the JCK Jewelry show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The keynote address at the breakfast entitled “Synthetic Ethics” will be presented by Martin Rapaport. The Rapaport Breakfast is open to the jewelry trade and media. Registration and information is available here. The breakfast and additional Rapaport “Ethical Sourcing” and “Appraiser” Town Hall Meetings will be broadcast live on Facebook here.
The issue of synthetic diamonds is hotly debated in the diamond and jewelry trade. Recent decisions by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have removed the word natural from the definition of a diamond. The FTC believes that diamonds need not be natural to be describe as diamonds, although they require disclosure when a diamond is “man-made” or “laboratory-created.” Martin Rapaport has published an important article about the issue entitled “Synthetic Ethics” that can be reviewed here.
The vote will provide RapNet and the jewelry industry with important input as to the role of synthetic diamonds in the diamond trade. The final decision regarding the matter will be made by the RapNet management team.
“Synthetic diamonds present significant challenges and opportunities to the diamond trade. The role of natural diamonds is threatened as synthetic diamonds offer consumers lower prices and provide retailers with higher profit margins. The problem with synthetic diamonds is that they are not a store-of-value as they have no natural scarcity and can be manufactured with unlimited supply. Their prices are expected to decline over the long term as their cost of manufacturing falls. The diamond trade must decide if they want to trade in long-term integrity for short-term profits,” said Martin Rapaport, Chairman of the Rapaport Group.
