Dear Mr. Rapaport

Mr Rapaport,

I am an Antwerp diamond trader and manufacturer since 1984.
I have witnessed your rise during these 24 years, becoming gradually the Oracle
of the diamond trade, the most powerful person, the reference for the whole
diamond world, and I can only admire that.
For many years, your Rapaport List, was supposed to be a reflection of the market,
never perfect, but nothing is perfect, an opinion, and that was ok.
Last June, you changed all that, by raising the list by 25%, saying : this is not a raise, the premiums have to go down, customers, please don’t pay more etc .. you tried to have an influence
on the market, stop the speculation.
While your intentions were good, the results were dramatic.
Since you changed from being an observer to being a manipulator of the market, since you decided that you
wanted to be ‘Alan Greenspan’, things went from bad to worse.
Your recent price decreases have succeeded to scare away the last few buyers that were intending
to purchase diamonds, postponing or even cancelling their purchases, thinking that the list going
down, tomorrow they’ll buy cheaper.
For this, I don’t thank you.
Mr. Rapaport, your every move has a tremendous influence for the industry, please, in the future act
with more responsibility.

Ziv Knoll
Sygma Diamonds