Lab-grown diamonds see a plunge in prices

Indian consumers who were beginning to consider owning lab-grown diamonds (LGDs) should be aware of a consumer alert from a global diamond and jewellery trade expert. According to Martin Rapaport, prices for these stones fell 30% in 2023, and 67% over the past three years.

- Ram Sahgal

The chairman of US-based Rapaport Group, whose diamond price list is the global benchmark for pricing natural diamonds, sounded an alarm on social media about the price crash–which should be a big worry for Indian exporters of lab grown diamonds. Except, they see other silver linings.

“Some jewellers are pushing synthetic diamonds because they can make huge profit margins. This won’t last because synthetic diamonds are crashing to hundreds and even tens of dollars per carat," Rapaport said. “This is because they are available in unlimited supply."

The retail price of 2 carat LGD has plunged from a peak of $4,690 in July 2020 to $1,535 in October, he said.

Indian producers of lab grown diamonds, who mainly rely on exports, conceded that prices had dropped by 50-60% over three years in the business-to-business (B2B) segment–between manufacturer and wholesaler /retailer–owing to abundant supply.