With the year coming to a close, we wanted to do some research on the forecast of lab-grown diamonds and their prices by next year. There was an interesting article on JCK Magazine about a report that was released by Bain & Co. for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre.
This comprehensive article talked about many things within the diamond industry, but probably the most notable section was chapter 6 - “Recent developments in the lab-grown market” which was the spotlight statement we read on the JCK December article. Below, we have a quote from the Bain & Co. report, regarding the matter of lab-grown diamonds:
“Today, it costs $300 to $500 per carat to produce a CVD lab-grown diamond, compared with $4,000 per carat in 2008.”
Further down, they elaborate on general price trend observations. (You can read the entire report here as well.) or (read the JCK article, which may be easier to digest).
“As production costs have dropped, retail prices have followed. The retail price of gem-quality lab-grown diamonds nearly halved in the past two years, while wholesale prices dropped threefold. Prices are expected to decrease even further as production efficiencies increase, new competitors enter the market and the segment commoditizes.”
(Chart Photography Credit: Bain & Company, Inc.)
There is an enormous hype around lab-grown diamonds, with US-based millennial seeming to lead the current demand pool. Despite this, there is an equally large sector of the population that expresses uncertainty about the product class. We don’t really know how the value trend of lab-grown diamonds will pan out, as here in the Philippines, they are just beginning to emerge in larger quantities and carat weights (since early 2018). Much of our industry relies on the information provided by forecasts and reports from international trade firms.
This recent report for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre may cause concern for worry among the supporters of lab-grown diamonds. On the opposite side though, the reception for these products continues to grow, and we may see more lab-grown diamonds here in the Philippines by 2019. Our visitor base is still divided over whether these diamonds are investment worthy or not, but we clearly explain that a lab-grown diamond is still a diamond by chemistry. The difference between a lab-grown diamond and a natural stone at this point in time, is origin and overall price (both wholesale and retail prices of created diamonds are substantially lower than natural counterparts).
