By far the one of the largest centers for companies selling wholesale diamonds is the Diamond Bourse in Tel Aviv, Israel. Over the past few years the Tel Aviv diamond Bourse has witnessed a reduction in the number of companies who actually cut and polish rough diamonds. This part of the industry has largely been taken over by companies in India. Still Israel is largely considered to be the leading location for the acquisition of wholesale diamonds.
When placing an estimate on the value of wholesale diamonds, great attention needs to be given to the details of the stone. If a diamond wholesaler is not accurate in his grading and valuation of the stone he is vulnerable to making mistakes, and the Rapaport list is usually the stumbling block. Truthfully, prices listed on the Rapaport list should be taken as a point o begin negotiations, not as the actual price of wholesale diamonds. A successful wholesaler knows how much to discount form the listed price. He can make his offer by assessing the grade of the diamond; color, clarity, weight, and cut. He then deducts from the price accordingly.
The Rapaport list will contain the price per carat. This is the industry norm when quoting a price. For example, consider a parcel of wholesale diamonds listed at "1.50 ct $3000." This can be interpreted as meaning 1.50X3000= $4500 for the parcel. The diamond wholesaler will seldom mark parcels with the actual total price.
Wholesale diamonds price lists are regularly kept up to date since the market is usually on an upward swing. Major changes in the prices of wholesale diamonds come when there is a change in rough diamond prices. If De Beers, the world largest diamond distributer, announces an increase of 5% in the price of wholesale rough diamonds, this does not mean all prices in the Rapaport chart will increase by 5 percent. The increase is an average given to cutters and will reflect with a price increase for higher quality wholesale diamonds, not those of low quality.
Diamond – Experts, http://www.diamond-
