Rio Tinto Diamonds M anaging D irector Jean-Marc Lieberherr forecasts rough diamond prices will fall by the middle of 2016.
He told Bloomberg Television: “There is a need for the rough prices to adjust to the economic value of the polished price and that trend is in motion at the m oment.
" There’s a disconnect between prices for rough diamonds and polished ones, " he explained .
Lieberherr believes there is a “logjam” of diamonds being held by traders, cutters and polishers which will be moved out by the middle of 2016 as rough prices decline further .
“The polished pipeline is a little bit overloaded and it will probably take until about the middle of next year to come back to normal levels. The last 12 to 18 months have been tough for the industry.”
