Diamonds On The Decline, How Can That Be?
Article by Robert Rizzo
11.18.2023
Diamond Galaxy – Image Credit: Shutterstock
The diamond industry is in the midst of a new era. Throughout this past year, the times have changed,
as the market witnesses a complete drop in demand for natural diamonds. Now, you may be
wondering why is that?
There are an abundance of reasons, but first off, the average everyday customer would rather spend
their hard-earned income on necessities such as food (which is understandable). What’s also catching
many off guard, is that the majority of customers are choosing to travel on vacations with loved ones
and friends over dishing out money on obtaining material items such as a diamond. In other words,
customers are opting to spend their income on an experience over a specific item.
A pedestrian views a variety of diamond jewelry in the display of a store in the Diamond District neighborhood of
Manhattan – Image Credit: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Natural-Made Diamonds vs. Lab-Made Diamonds
Many have begun to realize just how natural diamonds are actually made and the stone
creating-process that goes behind it — digging deep into Earth’s core through coal mines, which
damages our environment to an extreme degree each-and-every-go-round. And at the same time, puts
miners’ lives at risk for the short-and-long term.
The method on the other side, is a much-more environmentally friendly choice, and humane option —
in a laboratory, growing stones — a setting where there is less potential harm on workers, and most
definitely, on our environment. With that in mind, customers nowadays prefer laboratory-made
diamonds.
Not to mention, a laboratory-made diamond is faster-made, and is less expensive on the grand scheme
compared to a diamond naturally created from coal mines, and potentially can be a better stone based
on the certain size and quality. Essentially, no one can really tell the difference.
Adam Zimmerman, of Syl-Lee Antiques, a veteran in the industry, revealed that he “cannot tell the
difference between lab-made and natural stones.”
“If you’re talking apples to apples on a natural diamond vs. a lab-grown diamond, I would say a
lab-grown diamond is going to be about one-sixth of the price of a natural diamond,” said Brayden
Wickman, co-owner of Goldsmith Gallery Jewelers.
An up-close view of Polished diamonds – Image Credit: Shutterstock
What Are The Diamond Companies Doing?
As it goes for the diamond firms and their future outlook — this past September and October, Russian
miner Alrosa PJSC, a well-renowned Diamond Giant based across Russia, decided to halt all of their
diamond sales, which caused a temporary pause throughout their week-to-week functions.
On top of that, less than a three weeks ago, De Beers Diamond Consortium, the world’s leading
diamond company, located in Botswana, and South Africa, started to allow an exponential amount of
flexibility on their restrictions — such as “offering customers the ability to reject diamonds they have
already agreed to buy,” according to Bloomberg.
Both examples stand out as an attempt to rejuvenate the diamond industry as a whole — potentially
leading to a higher demand from customers, which would result in the prices increasing on the market.
“We expect that this will have a stabilizing effect, helping to balance the market, and will strengthen the
stability of the supply chain,” stated in a Alrosa PJSC press release back in September regarding the
massive changes to their diamond sales.
The times have changed in the diamond industry, what could be coming next? – Image Credit: Zuo Dongchen/Future
Publishing/Getty Images
De Beers Witnessing ‘Diamonds On The Decline’
Here is yet another example of what the diamond market is shaping up as:
“At the recent De Beers sale, its buyers, mostly from India and Antwerp, seized on the unusual
flexibility, between them buying just $80 million of uncut gems,” stated in a excerpt from the diamond
industry is coping with a 20% price drop and worries Gen Z isn’t all that interested in its stones.
“Normally De Beers would have expected to shift between $400 million and $500 million at such a
sale. Outside of the early days of the pandemic — when sales were halted altogether — the company
has not sold so few gems since it started making the results public in 2016.”
Despite De Beers’ head of diamond trading Paul Rowley recently stating that he “doesn’t anticipate a
structural shift in the market,” time can only tell where this new era in the diamond industry will take
us…
see our diamond page for information on how to determine price of diamonds
