De Beers is offering rough diamonds to buyers at the Israel Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan from Oct 13 to 15, its first sales there in nine years, Globes says.
De Beers is returning to the Israel Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan after nine years away. From Tuesday, October 13, to Thursday, October 15, 2026, the diamond producer is showing its rough diamonds to buyers at the exchange, Globes reported on October 12. The return comes days after the exchange and the Israel Tax Authority agreed a new tax framework for 2027 and 2028.
Why is De Beers coming back to Israel now?
De Beers is coming back because the Israel Diamond Exchange spent 2026 rebuilding its pitch to producers, and De Beers is selling into a weak market. De Beers reported a 13% fall in sales in 2025, according to Ynetnews. Rapaport's August 2026 Diamond Pulse put its first-half 2026 revenue down 19% to $1.58 billion.
Globes credits the exchange's management, led by president Nissim Zuaretz, and Roey Fisher, head of the Foreign Trade Administration at Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry, for helping bring De Beers back.
What tax deal did the exchange sign with the Tax Authority?
The Israel Diamond Exchange and the Israel Tax Authority signed an agreement for 2027 and 2028 that taxes diamond dealers at a fixed, low percentage of their turnover. Rapaport reported that the deal removes the minimum income threshold for dealers. Globes says the model puts Israel in a competitive position against trading centers that already tax on turnover.
How weak is Israel's diamond trade in 2026?
Israel's diamond exports fell to a record low of $2.4 billion in the first half of 2026, Ynetnews reported. The article listed Dubai's tax advantages, lab-grown stones, weaker global demand and a new 10% US tariff as the pressures on the industry.
Zuaretz announced in the summer that he would step down once a successor is elected, with a vote expected in November or December, according to Rapaport's Diamond Pulse.
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| August 2026 | Nissim Zuaretz says he will step down as exchange president once a successor is elected |
| Early October 2026 | Exchange and Tax Authority sign the 2027 and 2028 turnover-based tax agreement |
| October 13 to 15, 2026 | De Beers shows rough diamonds to buyers at the Ramat Gan exchange |
| November or December 2026 | Exchange presidential election expected |
Why did Israel's diamond industry shrink so far?
Israel's diamond industry shrank because cheaper Indian cutting, lab-grown stones and the move of rough trading to Dubai hit it in sequence, according to Olam's earlier reporting. Olam's analysis of lab-grown diamonds found that Israeli cutting employment fell from a 1970s peak well above 15,000 workers to under 1,000 today, and that lab-grown diamond prices fell roughly 70 percent in five years.
The same analysis reports that bank financing for the industry reached a historic low of $508 million utilized in 2024, which is 77 percent below the 2008 peak of $2.24 billion. It reads that figure as lenders cutting exposure as demand falls, not as credit holding back a recovery.
Olam's study of how the diamond trade migrated to Dubai traces the UAE's zero VAT policy and free-zone framework, which pulled bulk rough trading away from Ramat Gan. That migration is the competition the new Israeli turnover tax is meant to meet.
What is the Ramat Gan bourse, and who trades there now?
The Israel Diamond Exchange is the trading hub of Israel's diamond industry, and Olam's profile of the Ramat Gan diamond and medical economy places it beside Sheba and Bar-Ilan University in the city's economic base.
Who trades there is also changing. Olam's history of the Jewish diamond trade, from Antwerp to Ramat Gan to Surat, argues that Jewish families built the trade on trust, information and access, and that India won on scale once globalization made those three less scarce.
What happens to De Beers next?
De Beers' parent company, Anglo American, is weighing a sale of the business, and no buyer has been finalized. Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said the talks were "pretty close to the end," with a deal possible by year end, per the Diamond Pulse.
No sales results from the Ramat Gan viewing have been published, so the return signals intent, not yet volume. The number to watch is whether the companies that, per Ynetnews, moved from Israel to Dubai come back to buy in Ramat Gan.
The brand side of the same pressure, including how De Beers answered lab-grown competition, is covered on Everything-PR in Shine Strategically: How De Beers Reimagined Diamond Desire.
Where can readers follow the Israeli diamond story on Olam?
Olam covers each stage of the Israeli diamond trade's decline and rebuilding in its Israeli Real Economy coverage.
How we report: Olam stories draw on public filings, company disclosures and named sources, checked by our editors. Read our methodology · Corrections
