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.”



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).

The growing concern over separating man-made or lab-grown diamonds from natural ones is well grounded on the fact that this gem species is one of the hardest ever to segregate visually, even for gemologists. In fact, for stones that are grown using the HPHT (High Pressure, High Temperature) method, exposure to the trade and processes involved with manufacturing man-made diamonds allowed laboratory gemologists to take note of certain characteristics observable in grown stones. These include specific types of metallic looking flux residues, and peculiar looking growth marks that showed the difference in a stone's crystal-development history.



The HPHT method has been the staple of the jewelry industry for many years, and still accounts for the production of many of the world's man-made diamonds today. Despite this, more and more technologically advanced companies have been working on (and developing proprietary advancements) the other method of diamond growing called Chemical Vapor Deposition or CVD for short. This type of laboratory-grown diamond is much less likely to show visible traces of its synthesis today. The diamonds themselves are grown from flat sheets, by depositing material layer by layer from a carbonaceous cloud of gas (like methane).



Lab-grown CVD diamonds have finally reached the point where their colors and clarities produced can be directly comparable to those of high quality natural diamonds. While lab-grown / man-made diamonds sold on with open disclosure and honest documentation are very beautiful products, the problem lies in the sale of these stones under the guise or label of 'natural diamonds'. These are two different categories of salable gems with two different price points in the trade, and therefore should not be mistaken for one another.

For natural diamond identity checks, we combine the use of scientific spectrometric equipment with the many years of experience held by our gemological staff through their involvement in the global diamond trade. For visits to our laboratory, you can set up an appointment with us through our official facebook page.

While diamond synthesis isn't something new to the trade, it's still a hot topic all around the international jewelry industry. "Will synthetic diamonds influence the prices of earth-mined stones in the long run?". "How do we protect ourselves from man-made diamonds being peddled as natural gemstones?". There are a lot of questions that many experts are currently concerned over.



Laboratories can detect the vast majority of natural diamonds using advanced instruments that read spectrometric emission and absorption patterns, but to people who are just looking to buy (or sell) diamonds, it can be daunting to realize just how many ways they can be fooled by unscrupulous individuals.

Synthetic diamonds grown using the chemical vapor deposition process, or CVD for short, are almost impossible to distinguish without specific gemological equipment. Many visitors to our laboratory here in Quezon City, have already submitted diamonds that turned out to be man-made through controlled, artificial growth methods. Around 60% of them did not know, or were not sure about the nature of these stones, which causes some concern over honesty in the jewelry trade.

In the US, a company called WV Lab Grown Diamonds uses the CVD technique to pursue ultra-high qualities of synthetic diamond. Their products have now been elevated in size ranking, as the lab has just announced its most recent 6 carat production through trade sites like Rapaport.

Their facility, located in Washington, D.C., aims to pursue forward leaps in the field of diamond synthesis, remarking that the future will probably hold even bigger sizes of CVD man-made diamonds for the public to enjoy.

A 6 carat, colorless diamond was recently created at facet-grade quality. The company stated that their product would price similarly to a 3.5 carat natural diamond in the same color and clarity grade levels, but that's still their own appraisal on the item. (We do not endorse nor confirm their estimate.)

As far as Gemcamp's independent research shows, synthetic diamonds were often priced at 75% the value of their natural counterparts back in 2009. Now, during last year's March expo in Hong Kong, our team of gemologists asked around to find out more regarding the current prices of CVD synthetic stones. One large manufacturer (brand shall remain private), was willing to sell its products initially for 60% the price of a natural counterpart, but later settled for 50% after negotiation.



Man-made diamonds can be a great product for jewelry buyers who are looking for a specific set of criteria in their stones. We will not however, comment on their investment worth, as our position still remains neutral. Research publications from our laboratory only publishes data gathered by our gemologists in and outside of the Philippine market.

We can only attest to the investment appreciation of natural diamond, as it has been stable appreciative asset when evaluated throughout the past decades. Much of the public's interest in natural diamond has paved the way for labs like GIA to create and fortify the grading systems we all follow today, creating a way for industry experts to price and essentially commoditize natural diamond, similar to gold, platinum or other precious metals traded internationally.