Diamonds have misplaced a lot of their shine in recent times.
Pure diamonds have misplaced greater than half of their worth over the previous 5 years. On common, a 1-carat stone now goes for $3,898, or 51% lower than its common value of $8,007 in 2021, knowledge from diamond buying and selling platform Rapaport Group exhibits. The Diamond Commonplace Index, which tracks costs of so-called investment-grade diamonds, hit 2,490 in early August — its lowest degree ever. This week, it was hovering simply north of two,500.
A number of drivers are conspiring in opposition to diamonds, together with a glut of mined stones that has hit the market over the previous few years. And whereas makes an attempt to filter out that oversupply are underway, one other development is compounding the problem: an increase in lab-grown diamonds.
“There’s plenty of doom and gloom about pure diamonds,” Diamond Commonplace CEO Cormac Kinney informed CNBC. “There was a really massive overhang of extra stock again in 2023 and 2024 after extra manufacturing throughout Covid, after which [there’s been] the falling gross sales because of the lab-grown [diamonds].”
Lab-grown diamonds are gems with the identical chemical and bodily properties as pure diamonds which might be produced by making use of warmth and strain to carbon seeds or from carbon-containing fuel in a vacuum chamber. Though they’re grown above floor, they feel and appear an identical to stones which might be shaped deep inside the Earth.
The important thing distinction between the 2 is value. A virtually colorless lab diamond with very, very barely included readability that has a superb minimize can go for $450 on Sensible Earth’s on-line market, a CNBC search discovered. By comparability, a pure stone with the identical specs falls within the vary of $2,800 to $3,200. The value differential is due largely to how resource-intensive mining pure diamonds will be, as the method requires numerous gasoline and labor.
Lab-grown alternate options are priced decrease than pure diamonds at each carat weight, in accordance with Sensible Earth. A person-made stone will be priced as a lot as 90% decrease than its mined equal, though the precise distinction in value is determined by the dimensions, minimize and colour of a stone.
This has led cash-strapped shoppers to flock to extra inexpensive human-made diamonds in engagement and trend jewellery, including strain on pure stone costs. Engagement rings with lab-grown heart stones made up 61% of all engagement ring gross sales in 2025, up 239% since 2020, in accordance with The Knot 2026 Actual Weddings Research.
And the lab-grown diamond market is projected to develop to almost $92 billion by 2034, marking a greater than 200% improve from the $29.46 billion it was price in 2025, in accordance with Fortune Enterprise Insights.
You should not be shopping for a diamond pondering that there is a monetary funding [aspect] to it.
Cory Schifter
proprietor of Casale Jewelers
Lab-grown diamonds are “opening up alternative for folks to spend what they need and get what they need, versus having to create halos round their heart stone as a result of they’ve a 1-carat and need make it appear to be a 3[-carat],” Cory Schifter, proprietor of New York and New Jersey-based Casale Jewelers, informed CNBC. “They’re in a position to take the additional cash that they did not spend on the 5-carat pure and put it in the direction of their marriage ceremony and perhaps purchase a home or no matter they wish to do.”
The shift towards lab-grown alternate options threatens to push pure diamond costs even decrease.
However, the pure diamond business has taken discover, and it is beginning to take measures to carry lackluster stone costs.
De Beers Group, an Anglo American subsidiary that focuses on the mining, sorting and grading of diamonds, stated in July that it might halt manufacturing at its flagship Venetia mine in South Africa for greater than two years — a transfer that may restrict provide and probably push up costs. In the meantime, no less than two diamond mines have introduced everlasting shutdowns in 2026.
“There’s additionally been a big disruption in provide as a result of two of the mines have filed for chapter, and De Beers itself has introduced the closure of one in every of its largest mines,” Kinney informed CNBC. “So what we’re seeing now within the wholesale market is value appreciation for sure qualities [of diamonds], and it is, I feel, the start of a restoration.”
Enjoying the lab diamond growth
It is not totally clear whether or not strikes by business giants can stem the bleeding within the pure diamond market, however one factor is obvious: Lab-grown diamonds are right here to remain.
And there’s a manner for traders to play the development.
Raymond James analyst Rick Patel has an outperform ranking on Signet Jewelers, which he says gives publicity to the growth in lab-grown diamonds.
“Lab-grown diamonds have really completed effectively for Signet, notably on the style facet,” Patel stated. “The merchandise with the lab diamond generate about thrice the [average unit retail] of different trend merchandise that should not have a lab diamond. So what meaning is the extra lab-grown diamond trend jewellery they promote, the extra it helps their AUR, which helps their same-store gross sales.”
Signet didn’t reply to questions on its margins for lab-grown and pure diamonds. Nevertheless, knowledge from international funding agency Gordon Brothers exhibits that lab-grown diamonds usually generate gross margins between 60% and 65%, or larger than the 40% to 45% gross margins on naturals.
Patel famous that Signet manufacturers reminiscent of Kay Jewelers and Zales are more and more including lab-grown diamonds to easy items like tennis bracelets, with the concept of constructing extra money on every sale. It is a transfer that would enhance shares of the jewellery manufacturers’ proprietor, he added.
“To illustrate you will have a gold-plated tennis bracelet with none form of stones,” Patel stated. “If you happen to infuse some lab-grown diamonds in there, you are in a position to cost a lot larger costs there, and shoppers see much more worth in it.”
SIG yr thus far
Other than Signet, Sensible Earth is one other approach to play the lab-grown diamond development. And Pandora, which has its personal lab diamond line, additionally gives publicity to the growth within the gems.
Signet has rallied 21% in 2026. The inventory had its finest buying and selling day in practically 4 years on Sept. 9, surging about 24%, after Signet raised its annual revenue forecast on robust demand for its bridal and trend wares. Sensible Earth is down 20% yr thus far, though it has gained 27% over the previous three months.
Pandora, which trades on the Copenhagen inventory trade, is up practically 19% because the starting of the yr. Though the inventory is not listed on a U.S. trade, U.S. traders can commerce it over-the-counter.
Analysts and diamond business insiders suggest these shares slightly than investing in precise pure or lab-grown stones.
Diamonds are usually tough to put money into as a consequence of the truth that there is no such thing as a standardized spot marketplace for them. That is as a result of no two diamonds are alike, making it tough to evaluate values on a comparable foundation.
The diamond market additionally struggles from liquidity points. A diamond could sit on the secondary marketplace for greater than a yr, relying on its high quality, in accordance with a 2026 February report from gemstone market CaratX. And when stones do promote, they typically go for lower than half of their unique retail value, per a number of jewelers’ web sites.
“You should not be shopping for a diamond pondering that there is a monetary funding [aspect] to it,” Casale Jewelers proprietor Schifter informed CNBC. “Go make investments your cash in silver and even the S&P 500.”
