Just prior to The JCK Show ~ Las Vegas, De Beers announced a “price adjustment” that will result in an “under 3 percent” boost in the price of its items, beginning with the June sight.

A De Beers statement said the increase “has been focused on categories where there is the strongest demand for polished.”

At press time, sightholders said it was impossible to say which goods were affected until they saw their first post-increase boxes, but early indications suggest it was an across-the-board increase. This is the company’s second price increase this year. The first, effective with the January sight, also raised prices 3 percent.

In 2004, it raised prices an average of 14 percent, the company said.