The diamond industry was a prize winner. Diamond folk have guts but they have lost the glory. The JCK show proved that they lost of confidence in diamonds.
Diamond Business - Page 3 of 7
A constant examination of the global diamond business from mining to retail. Using industry data and analytics, it is explained in context with clarity.
What is the Diamond Industry?
The diamond industry is a fascinating sector, with a rich and, at times, controversial history. To satisfy global consumer demand for diamond jewelry, the diamond industry invests in exploration and has developed new ways to extract diamonds from the ground.
It employs sophisticated ways to assess rough diamonds without the need to first cut them open, and has developed state-of-the-art technologies to plan diamond polishing. In addition, the industry has sophisticated ways to grade diamonds, and a complex way for determining a diamond’s value.
The diamond industry also includes design and jewelry manufacturing. Some are ultra-modern, and others very traditional. In all cases, they address consumer demand and tastes.
Are Diamonds Expensive?
Diamonds come in all sizes and clarities, and in many colors. The rarer a diamond, the higher is its value. Some are very pricy, and some are less so. There is a diamond for every budget.
Along the value chain, miners, polishers, jewelry makers and retailers do not have a wider margin than their counterparts in other sectors.
Surprised? Read the following insight posts and reports to learn more about the economics of the diamond industry.
What Are the Components of the Diamond Industry?
The diamond industry includes:
- Exploration
- Mining
- Rough diamond sales
- Diamond polishing
- Polished diamond wholesaling
- Jewelry making
- Retailing
- Consumer demand
The following posts provide insights into how exactly the diamond industry works, the ways miners sell rough diamonds, how diamond polishers tackle changing demand in a lengthy polishing process, and the financial issues that all parts of the diamond industry face.
For a deeper look into this topic, please see below:
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This is How Much Americans Spend on Jewelry and Watches
How much does the average US household spend on jewelry and watches per year? Does this spending differ by age group and, if so, by how much?
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Inventories Up, Demand Down and Lab-Grown Prices Continue to Drop
The diamond industry is out of balance. The rough diamonds produced at mines only partially fit current consumer demand. This may explain why price movement is restrained. Meanwhile, among lab-grown goods, matters are a little more lively. Although prices of smaller lab-grown goods have been mostly stable, the prices of larger goods sank in the first quarter of 2019. A …
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LGD Prices – Not What You Might Expect
After a very long period of slow development and use, we are now at the stage where a walloping leap occurs as market adoption of lab-grown takes place. After an initial 30-40% drop in wholesale prices, prices of LG goods below 1-ct keeps falling, while larger goods are steady. Oh, and there is a LGDs transaction price list!
Although Sliding, Jewelry Retail Prices Remain High
After reaching a historic record high in 2017, consumer prices of fine jewelry have softened so far in 2018. However, jewelry retail prices are still high, which may explain a number of consumer trends. Are these prices fueling demand for lab-grown? We know that the US market is very price sensitive, and that dictates polished diamond prices, as well as …
The US Jewelry Market Is Much Smaller Than You Think
A back-of-the-envelope calculation of the US jewelry market shows that the official figures are too high. New figures are closer to the real market size.
Lightbox: Disrupting the Disruptors and Evolving
De Beers announced the launch of a lab-grown (LG) diamond jewelry line. Yes, it’s late in May, not April 1, but this is no joke. In September, it will launch Lightbox, a line of jewelry priced between $300-$1,000. They are fighting the LG producers by using an age-old Silicon Valley approach – disruption. They are disrupting the disrupters. The strategy …
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Baselworld 2018 and the Marginalization of Diamonds
Many years ago, a De Beers director quietly admitted to me that even if all the marketing efforts were working well and diamond sales were on the rise, the diamond industry would still not catch up with the luxury market and would continue to lose market share to it. If Baselworld is telling the industry anything, it is that the …
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US Diamond Trade: The Figures Reveal Oddities
Diamond import and export figures can tell a story, and a good story sparkles with oddities. Good stories start with facts that raise questions. In this case, the question is why a consumer market would import eight times the amount of diamonds it consumes. Or how a country with no diamond mining might export more rough than it imports.
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Marketing, Sure – But of What Kind?
If there is anything that the diamond industry is famous for, it is its marketing. Turning a rare and out-of-reach product into an attainable household desire was a brilliant success, and the marketing slogan “A diamond is forever” is one of the best ever penned. Yet today, the diamond industry is suffering from dismal marketing that has toppled all the …
