As we have all seen from countless examples of goodness around the world due to the extraordinary changes that the Coronavirus crisis has forced on entire populations, it's at times of crisis that people come together. Although it's unfortunate that we don't always do this during normal times as well, nonetheless it has been heartwarming to see people coming together to make life a little easier.

The diamond industry, after an extremely difficult year in 2019, was starting to see a pick-up in demand in January. Nothing huge, but there were some green shoots of hope.

De Beers reported a relatively high level of sales of more than $500 million in January as demand rose after a self-imposed reduction in manufacturing by polished diamond makers in the second half of last year allowed large stocks of polished to be absorbed and inventories to fall.

In the months before this, sales were at the $300+ million level. Diamond traders and manufacturers at the VicenzaOro Show in January, and the Signature Show in Mumbai in February as well as jewellery retailers showed a higher level of optimism than I had seen since at least mid-2019. Again, we should not exaggerate the pick-up, but it was starting.

Similarly, the annual International Diamond Week at the Israel Diamond Exchange in early February saw an impressive turnout. Delegations from China, Hong Kong and Macau were obviously not in attendance and that reduced visitor numbers significantly, but the trading hall of the exchange was still heaving.

And then the Coronavirus expanded internationally and, in short order, exchanges closed down as government orders demanded that people stay at home for the most part and that the number of people allowed to meet together should be 10 or fewer.

With little or no work being done and transactions at an all-time low, the industry – as with all other trades – is biding its time until the virus passes. We are all under tremendous pressure – both from fear of catching the illness and from the financial aspect.

Jobless numbers are soaring and there is little doubt that once the crisis is dealt with, many businesses will have little choice but to declare bankruptcy. That is a sad reality. Despite governments around the globe offering assistance and promising that the tax authorities will delay payment demands, that will probably not be enough to save many companies.

One must hope that companies managed to put away enough money during the good times to take them through downturns. However, nobody could possibly have foreseen a situation where we would all be sitting at home for weeks on end.

Against this background, when diamond industry members are sitting on stocks of goods that they obviously cannot sell, the decision by the Rapaport Group to reduce the prices of goods on his pricelist was extraordinarily insensitive and ill-timed. The diamond trade has been trying for some years to reach an accommodation with Martin Rapaport over when and by how much he reduces the prices of goods. Despite agreeing to consult with the trade before making announcements, this has all come to nought.

And now, when the industry is at one of its lowest ever points – we are still to find out whether the impact will be worse than in 2008-2009 following the global financial crisis – Rapaport unilaterally moved to reduce prices on March 20 apparently without a thought for the many companies that will be affected. There were price drops of 5-9%, with the average being an estimated 7%.

Rapaport said in a public announcement: “It is vital that the Rapaport Price List reflects the realities of the market even when such realities are not pleasant or welcome. We cannot protect the market from price changes and must maintain the credibility of our price information,” he said, adding that the list is “used by buyers and not just sellers".

He added: “We cannot misrepresent prices for the benefit of sellers and we must not mislead buyers. While many in the diamond trade wish to maintain inventory values, this is not possible in the current environment.” He offered a public vote on his decision and an offer to suspend publication of the list until May, with voting to end on March 24."

The backlash was not long in coming: the World Federation of Diamond Bourses appealed to diamond companies to remove their goods from RapNet – and many firms have done so. Not only that, but the WFDB is moving to create what it says will be "a state-of-the-art trading platform available for use by all members of all bourses, to be created with the needs of WFDB members in mind, and backed by the peace of mind that comes with knowing that every transaction will be protected by the WFDB’s unparalleled and unique arbitration system.

"The WFDB believes that a cross-bourse trading platform, underpinned by the WFDB’s and affiliated bourses' world-renown arbitration system, would help further the WFDB’s core missions to promote the international diamond trade and the resolution of disputes between individual members of the affiliated bourses through arbitration. In these times of uncertainty, the dependability, security, and reliability of the WFDB’s arbitration system has never been more crucial, and we hope this new platform will help expand this system to modern trading methods. The WFDB believes strongly in the value of competition and that adding the WFDB platform would also strongly contribute to the promotion of the trade and to healthy competition.

While the site is being developed, the Israel Diamond Institute is allowing all WFDB members to use its international trading platform at www.get-diamonds.com, the WFDB added.

Meanwhile, another well-known industry body – IDEX Online – has also spotted an opportunity to grab some market share by offering free access to its diamond trading platform until August 2020. IDEX says that its price index is updated every hour and is derived from a trading inventory of more than 700,000 polished diamonds. "The index is unbiased, market-driven and is the most reliable indicator of market movements. It is a composite formulated by specialists at Tel Aviv University's finance faculty and it accurately reflects price trends as they happen in real time, such as the drop of over 2% since the start of March.

It seems pretty clear from the industry's response that Rapaport misjudged the mood of the market. Although industry members have been angered by his decisions in the past, they have always carried on using the Rap list. Could this be the end of the list – or at least be the start of a heavy decline in its power and influence? Already there are companies that are taking steps to provide an alternative list.

Given that there is almost no business going on at the moment and unlikely to be much trade until April or May, this hiatus will give those companies time to build and test their platforms. It will also be interesting to see how the WFDB will create a new trading platform because creating such a venture with all the required methodology is no easy task. One thing is sure, however: many industry members are not happy with the way the Rap list is put together and are desperately wanting to move on to alternative or unbiased platforms?