{"id":27147,"date":"2026-08-14T10:39:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=27147"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:39:26","slug":"laboratorni-diamanty-znyzhuyut-tsiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/economics\/laboratorni-diamanty-znyzhuyut-tsiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab-grown diamonds are driving down the prices of natural diamonds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">Diamond prices are experiencing one of the sharpest declines in recent years due to the rapid proliferation of lab-grown stones. Since the start of 2022, the price of a natural one-carat diamond has more than halved, whilst more affordable alternatives are changing buyers\u00ab preferences and forcing mining companies to cut costs, reports \u00bbMinfin\u2019, citing SBS News.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A natural one-carat diamond currently costs approximately $3 900.<\/li>\n<li>The laboratory equivalent has fallen in price to around $850.<\/li>\n<li>Lab-grown gemstones account for around a third of the jewellery market.<\/li>\n<li>In the US, six out of ten engaged couples chose them.<\/li>\n<li>De Beers has suspended mining operations at its largest mine in South Africa.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>The price difference between the two types of stone<\/h2>\n<p>According to data from the US diamond industry, in 2016 the average price of a one-carat natural diamond in the US was around $6 380. It is currently estimated at around $3 900. Over the same period, the price of a lab-grown alternative fell from $5 820 to around $850.<\/p>\n<p>Lab-grown gemstones are indistinguishable from natural ones in terms of chemical composition and appearance. Even experts cannot tell them apart without specialised equipment. Their price advantage has increased as production technologies have become more cost-effective.<\/p>\n<p>Lab-grown diamonds are created using processes that replicate the conditions under which natural diamonds form, but this takes a few weeks rather than billions of years. Diamond market analyst Paul Zimniski told SBS News that surging demand has been driven by rapid technological advances and a significant reduction in production costs.<\/p>\n<h2>Mass production is changing what shoppers choose<\/h2>\n<p>As costs have fallen, manufacturers in China and India have significantly increased their output. <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/science-tech\/kytai-waico-hlobalne-upravlinnia-shi\/\">China<\/a> It dominates the global market for the production of laboratory-grown diamonds. In the city of Zhecheng, in the central province of Henan, hundreds of machines operate round the clock, producing millions of carats every year.<\/p>\n<p>Lab-grown diamonds account for around a third of the global diamond jewellery market. In the US, the world\u2019s largest market, six out of ten engaged couples chose a lab-grown diamond last year. This is 239% more than was recorded in a similar survey in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the lower price, buyers can purchase a larger stone for the same amount that would previously have bought a smaller natural one. This is changing the way diamonds are viewed as a status symbol: affordability is increasingly becoming the deciding factor.<\/p>\n<h2>Extractive companies are having to review their costs<\/h2>\n<p>Changes in demand are already having an impact on natural diamond producers. Last month, De Beers suspended mining operations at South Africa\u2019s largest diamond mine, citing the need to cut costs in a challenging market environment.<\/p>\n<p>Competition from lab-grown diamonds is not the only challenge facing the mining sector. Operating costs are rising, output from older fields is declining, and the launch of new mines requires significant investment. At current prices, such projects are becoming less attractive.<\/p>\n<p>In the natural stone sector, the issue of \u2018price of origin\u2019 is becoming increasingly pressing: producers need to convince buyers to pay significantly more specifically for the natural origin of the stone. According to Zimniski, the industry needs to establish a compelling reason for such a premium.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The falling cost of diamond-growing technologies has increased the supply of lab-grown diamonds and exacerbated the fall in prices for natural diamonds.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433404,"featured_media":27146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u0417\u0434\u0435\u0448\u0435\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044f \u0442\u0435\u0445\u043d\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0433\u0456\u0439 \u0432\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0449\u0443\u0432\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044f \u0434\u0456\u0430\u043c\u0430\u043d\u0442\u0456\u0432 \u0437\u0431\u0456\u043b\u044c\u0448\u0438\u043b\u043e \u043f\u0440\u043e\u043f\u043e\u0437\u0438\u0446\u0456\u044e \u043b\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0440\u0430\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043d\u0438\u0445 \u043a\u0430\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0456\u0432 \u0456 \u043f\u043e\u0441\u0438\u043b\u0438\u043b\u043e \u043f\u0430\u0434\u0456\u043d\u043d\u044f \u0446\u0456\u043d \u043d\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0456.","rank_math_title":"\u041b\u0430\u0431\u043e\u0440\u0430\u0442\u043e\u0440\u043d\u0456 \u0434\u0456\u0430\u043c\u0430\u043d\u0442\u0438 \u043e\u0431\u0432\u0430\u043b\u0438\u043b\u0438 \u0446\u0456\u043d\u0438 \u043d\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0456 \u043a\u0430\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0456","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0434\u0456\u0430\u043c\u0430\u043d\u0442\u0438","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805618],"tags":[806753],"class_list":["post-27147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economics","tag-806753"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27148,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27147\/revisions\/27148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}