Prospects and Opportunities Offered by Customs Union for Precious Metals and Gems Industry

In early July, Belarus ratified all the contracts and agreements concerning the Customs Union. De jure, the common customs area was created. However, de facto it will be possible to speak about a full-fledged union and common customs territory of the three participating countries – Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia - only after the common Customs Code and agreed rules of non-customs regulation will come into effect.

Silicon, a Competitor of Diamond

Fast recovery of the diamond market is accompanied by rather optimistic forecasts whose authors believe that world consumption of diamond jewelry may increase by at least 30% in the next decade. As a rule, such estimates are based on the forecasts for GNP movement in the countries considered major consumers of diamond jewelry. The initial premise is simple – GNP growth is accompanied by an increase in incomes of the population bringing about higher consumption of luxury goods. In the first approximation such logic looks faultless, but some examples make us doubtful about prognostic values of this approach in the modern environment.