☕ US and India just finalized zero tariffs on loose diamonds and gemstones, lab prices fell 14%, and Vegas is 18 days out. Tue, May 12

Good morning, jeweler. It is Tuesday, the US-India trade deal just handed diamond buyers a major win, and Las Vegas is closer than it feels. Let’s get into it.

Burgundy Diamond Mines, the Australian company that operates Ekati in Canada's Northwest Territories, filed for creditor protection on May 4. The court gave them a temporary shield that expires today, May 11. At this point, the mine's fate is genuinely unclear. The company owes roughly $655 million in total liabilities, has already cut its workforce from 700 to about 340 employees, and brought in only $253 million in diamond sales last year after pulling in more than $600 million in 2024. Diamond prices dropped over 70% in a year and Ekati never recovered.

Ekati is one of only a handful of operating diamond mines in Canada, which sits near the top of the global natural diamond supply chain. If the mine closes or enters extended restructuring, the ripple effect hits rough supply first, then polished, then retail. This is not a doomsday scenario yet, but it is exactly the kind of upstream disruption that tightens inventory on naturally sourced Canadian diamonds. If you sell Canadian provenance stones or lean on Canada in your sourcing story, now is a good time to check in with your suppliers and understand what they are holding. You do not need to panic. You do need to know.

The broader context makes this story land harder. The natural diamond market was already fragile going into JCK. Rapaport's latest market comment shows sentiment and trading both down. India is slow. Sub-1-carat naturals are soft. Ekati going dark would remove a meaningful chunk of natural supply from an already stressed system. Watch this one closely this week.

The latest wholesale price data for lab-grown diamonds is in and the number is 14% down for Q1 2026, continuing a now multi-year slide. The pace of the decline appears to be easing slightly, which is the one silver lining, but inventory levels at US jewelry retail stores are building. Loose LGD stones and LGD-set jewelry are sitting longer, which is raising real sell-through concerns for retailers who went heavy on lab inventory.

Here is what this means for you. If your lab-grown inventory is moving, great. If it is sitting, this data should push you toward rethinking your reorder strategy before Vegas. Customers who are actively asking for lab-grown are already coming to you. The risk is ordering more volume than your customer base actually demands. On the flip side, the price drops have made entry-level lab-grown more accessible, which can work in your favor if you are positioning it as a gateway to a bigger natural purchase down the road. Either way, know your sell-through before you hit the show floor.

The US-India interim trade framework is moving toward finalization, and the jewelry industry headline is this: loose natural diamonds and colored gemstones imported from India will face zero tariffs under the new deal. That is down from the 25% tariff that was in place earlier this year. Finished jewelry from India lands at 18%, which is still lower than the 25% baseline, but loose stones are the bigger story for most independent jewelers who are sourcing diamonds and gems direct or through a US wholesaler who sources from India.

India processes roughly 90% of the world's diamonds. This deal matters because even if you are not buying from India directly, your wholesaler likely is. Lower tariffs on Indian-cut diamonds theoretically flow through to better pricing at the wholesale level. It will not happen overnight and the deal is not fully finalized, but the direction is clearly better than where things stood six weeks ago. If you are planning significant inventory buys at JCK, this is a reason to be slightly more optimistic about pricing on natural goods than you might have been last month.

JCK Las Vegas opens May 29 at the Venetian Expo, and the show has a few new additions worth knowing before you build your booth list. The biggest addition is Timepieces at Luxury, a new dedicated watch destination featuring brands including Movado, Citizen, Frederique Constant, Shinola, Bulova, Casio's G-Shock line, and more. This is the largest B2B watch and jewelry gathering in the US by their count, and if watches are even a minor part of your mix, it is worth a walk-through. There is also a new Lifestyle Pavilion for accessories, home decor, and gift items, which is either useful or irrelevant depending on your store format.

On the entertainment side, three-time Grammy winner Nelly performs at Tao Beach on May 31. The Jesse Itzler keynote is Saturday May 30 at 8am in the Marcello Ballroom. The Signature Series education program includes a Harvard Business case study session and a Trends and Outlook economic indicators deep-dive. Eighteen days. If you have not started your appointment list, start this week before supplier calendars fill up entirely.

Stuller flagged something worth paying attention to: birthstone jewelry is no longer just a birthday gift category. Customers are buying birthstones as meaningful personal jewelry, milestone markers, and family keepsakes, and the breadth of how they are being worn has expanded considerably. Stackable birthstone rings, family birthstone pendants, and multi-stone pieces that tell a personal story are all driving solid attach rates in the category.

This matters for indie jewelers specifically because birthstone conversations are exactly the kind of emotionally resonant, personalized exchange that chains cannot replicate. You know your customers. If someone comes in for a diamond, you can ask about birthdays, kids, anniversaries, and open up an entirely separate conversation. The category also has strong margin if you are presenting it thoughtfully rather than as a display case afterthought. Pull your birthstone inventory before Mother's Day week ends, see what is selling, and think about how to make it a year-round conversation rather than a seasonal spike.

Tiffany and Co. officially premiered its Hidden Garden high jewelry collection earlier this month, built around rare unenhanced gemstones and what the brand describes as nature-inspired craftsmanship. The collection features botanical motifs, intricate detail work, and stones selected for their natural character rather than treating them to maximize color or clarity. It is a deliberate positioning move: Tiffany leaning into the "natural and rare" narrative at a moment when that story has real commercial pull against the lab-grown tide.

The practical takeaway for indie jewelers is less about the specific pieces and more about the signal. When Tiffany devotes a high jewelry collection to nature-inspired storytelling with unenhanced stones, they are reading consumer appetite correctly. Customers who are spending serious money are increasingly drawn to the story of natural, one-of-a-kind, and provenance-backed pieces. If you can tell that story authentically in your store, with the stones you actually have, you are speaking the same language as the market's most aspirational brand right now.

Eighteen days to Vegas. Your appointment list will not make itself. Pour a second cup and get it done. ☕
Karat Clark, Carats & Coffee