Editor’s Note
This article highlights the debut of a remarkable 100-carat yellow diamond at the Singapore International Jewelry Expo, a bold statement of luxury and resilience amid a challenging global market.
A 100-carat diamond of a vivid yellow hue made its world debut at the Singapore International Jewelry Expo’s (SIJE) opening day on July 10. The rock – sold by Ivy Masterpiece, local jeweller to the who’s who in town – is mounted on a necklace of white and yellow gold, with the whole piece valued at US$2.5 million (S$3.2 million). It is the crown jewel of the annual jewellery expo, which in its 20th year is betting against a global luxury slump to stage its biggest show yet.
From July 10 to 13, 414 brands from 26 countries are hawking precious stones worth more than US$250 million in all, at Marina Bay Sands’ Sands Expo & Convention Centre. The catalogue includes such rarities as a 2.21-carat Afghan emerald – famously tricky to mine from the remote Panjshir Valley – Burmese pigeon blood rubies and, for a dash of the cutting-edge, a pink diamond ring embedded with a microchip that can store both sentimental and product information.
SIJE organiser IEG Asia expects 15,000 trade and individual buyers, up from 14,000 visitors in 2024. The forecast is a rosy one at a time of global market turmoil. Cost-of-living crises, an unpredictable Donald Trump presidency in the US and tightened belts in the historically reliable Chinese market are joint forces that have rattled demand for high-end bling.
No sector is hurting more than the diamond industry, racked by the rise of cut-price laboratory-grown rocks, indistinguishable from the real thing to the naked eye and touted as an ethical alternative. SIJE is sticking to its guns and stocking only natural diamonds that take billions of years to form, even as the biggest name in diamonds, De Beers, reportedly failed to clear its inventory in 2024. The South African-British firm behind a third of the world’s diamond supply has also cut production in its mines.
On home ground, founder of Ivy Masterpiece Ivy Choa says her overall sales have dropped some 20 per cent since January 2025 and natural diamonds are now trading at their lowest in recent memory.
Yet, SIJE’s optimism is not unfounded. Footfall in 2024 quickly blew through its modest pre-show estimate of just 11,000 buyers.
And Ms Choa is already seeing hints of recovery. The jeweller of 47 years, who deals in both bespoke and ready-to-wear fine jewellery, says:
Such is the faith in an unbending local clientele. On one level, Ms Choa and an SIJE spokesperson attribute this to Singapore’s reputation for safe and secure transactions, where there is little cause to doubt the authenticity of precious stones sold here. The more candid reason is the profile of luxury jewellery buyers – the uber-wealthy.
Designer Simone Ng, who struck out with high jewellery or one-of-one pieces in 2006, says:
Ms Ng’s brand, Simone Jewels, has not felt any dent to the books so far and can boast steady sales since 2023, even after the GST hike kicked in and the post-Covid-19 surge tapered off across the board. Simone Jewels’ growing international presence, helped by a pop-up in London department store Harrods in 2020 and retail partnerships in Los Angeles and New York, coupled with a narrative approach to design, sets it apart from the Singapore pack.
At the preview of Ms Ng’s latest collection, inspired by ukiyo-e artist Hokusai’s masterwork *The Great Wave Off Kanagawa*, buyers cleared out some 70 per cent of the range, she says. A pair of long earrings from the collection – crafted from emeralds, tanzanite, diamonds, chalcedony and mother-of-pearl in 18K original gold – is going for $52,000 at her SIJE booth.
Ms Ng, a self-confessed history lover, gives the market a clean bill of health. She says:
South-east Asia’s jewellery market is poised for growth, with revenue projected to surpass US$9.4 billion in 2025 and an annual growth rate of 4.6 per cent expected through 2029, according to a Statista study referenced by SIJE’s organiser. The fair is scaling up in tandem.