Diamond Industry

A couple of weeks ago, diamond mining behemoth DeBeers announced it was closing down its lab grown diamond brand, Lightbox and focusing its efforts on producing industrial diamonds and marketing natural diamonds. With DeBeers holding a minute percentage of the lab grown market, this announcement seemed fairly insignificant in the scheme of things. However, combined with other announcements in the industry, it did mark what some a calling a significant turning point in the lab grown diamond industry.

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As I have written many times before, the price of lab grown diamonds is crashing. Whilst this is great news for consumers, many in the industry, including myself have been taken by surprise by the rapid rate of decline of lab grown prices. Whilst most in the supply chain, including manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers will see out this “lab grown craze”, the fact is, many companies will struggle financially when lab grown diamond prices hit rock bottom, and the lab grown industry matures and gravitates toward the more popular low-end and fashion jewellery market.

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Something that baffles diamond and jewellery consumers on a regular basis, and something I regularly get asked about is the apparent random pricing of diamonds and jewellery across various stores. For example, one shop may be selling a diamond ring for $5,000, whilst another down the road will be selling something very similar for $10,000.

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For nearly two years, I have written about the decline in natural diamond prices. After rising to dizzying highs in 2021, natural diamond prices have seen a prolonged decline over the past two years. Whilst efforts by large Indian diamond manufacturers in late 2023 to curb the decline through a two month ban on diamond imports worked in the short term, with natural diamonds rising about three percent, they have since plateaued and have reverted back to their pre-moratorium prices. Whilst lower prices are great news for consumers, and in certain situations, good news for members of the trade, it is clear that the current slump is mostly caused by a lack of demand – as evidenced by the slump in sales from De Beers – the world’s largest diamond miner. Like most things in life, this prolonged decline isn’t due to one specific factor, but numerous factors occurring at virtually the same time.

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As the shine begins to tarnish on the lab grown diamond trade due to price falls and consumers getting wiser as to the real value of lab grown diamonds, now is a good time to reflect on the lessons learned from the past three or four years that has transformed the diamond industry.

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As I have written many times before, the price of lab grown diamonds continue their downward trajectory. Being at the end of the first quarter of 2024, now is a good time to reflect on what happened to lab grown prices in the first three months of 2024.

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In January, the BBC aired an episode of its long running show Dragon’s Den, featuring lab grown diamond startup Kimai. This wasn’t first diamond or jewellery business featured on the hit TV show, as in 2008, I wrote about Clive Billings from diamondgeezer.com turning down a 255,000 pound offer in 2008. However, whilst there was nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary about this episode featuring the founders of Kimai, it certainly did ruffle some feathers in the diamond industry.

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Last week, I wrote about how despite dubious claims made by lab grown diamond sellers, that on the whole, lab grown diamonds look better and are a lot cheaper than their natural counterparts. These two factors, combined with a flood of supply bringing prices down, has meant that lab grown diamonds now account for roughly 40 per cent of the engagement ring market. So, with the meteoric rise of lab grown diamonds mean the end of natural diamonds?

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Two of the biggest selling points that lab grown diamond advocates constantly promote are that lab grown diamonds are both “eco-friendly” and are ethical. However, despite these claims being repeated ad nauseum by those spruiking lab grown diamonds over their natural counterparts, these claims remain somewhat dubious – to the point where I really think the industry should do away with them all together and focus on the true benefits of lab grown diamonds.

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As I have documented on this blog before, the price of lab grown diamonds are continuing to fall of a cliff. Whilst data states that lab grown diamonds have halved in price since mid-2022, which was the same time we started selling lab grown diamonds, my experience is that lab grown diamond have decreased by between 60-90% in price – a huge fall in just 18 months!

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