RAPAPORT… PRESS RELEASE, August 10, 2011, Mumbai: In a keynote address made to leaders of the Indian diamond industry, Martin Rapaport, Chairman of the Rapaport Group, has announced three new important Rapaport initiatives.
1. Diamond Price Index – RAPI. The Rapaport Group will be introducing a diamond price index that can be used by the financial sector to monitor the price of diamonds. The index will be published daily and available online throughout the day. The Index will be based on the best price per carat for Round, D-H, IF-VS2, Rapaport Specification 2 diamonds offered for sale on the RapNet Diamond Trading Network. While the RAPI indices will be available for various size categories, the primary index will be for one carat sizes.
2. Rapaport Diamond Fund – The Rapaport Group will be introducing a proprietary diamond investment fund that will provide an opportunity for the financial community to invest in diamonds. The fund will offer extraordinary levels of transparency and efficiency enabling access to investment grade diamonds at fair market values. Firms interested in investing in diamonds are encouraged to contact Rapaport via email invest@rapaport.com.
3. Rapaport Ethical Certification – The Rapaport Group will be introducing and implementing a certification system for ethical diamonds. The system will track diamonds from the source to polished diamonds and then on to finished jewelry. Different ethical grades will be provided with the highest grade reserved for fair trade diamonds that provide economic beneficiation to artisanal miners. Recycled diamonds will receive the next highest grade followed by ethical diamonds from known sources that comply with ethical mining, production and environmental standards. Initial Rapaport certification centers will be based in Surat and Mumbai, India and New York, USA. Firms or organizations interested in Rapaport Ethical Certification are encouraged to contact Rapaport via email ethicalcert@rapaport.com.
Editors please note. A just released special editorial “After Kimberley … Now What” by Martin Rapaport is available in English, or Gujarati .
Rapaport Media Contacts: media@diamonds.net.
Mumbai: Mittal Kalsy, +91-97699-30069, U.S.: Sherri Hendricks +1-702-893-9400
About the Rapaport Group: The Rapaport Group is an international network of companies providing added value services that support the development of free, fair, transparent efficient and competitive global diamond markets.