According to Paul Zimnisky, an independent diamond industry consultant, the technology and production of high-quality laboratory-made diamonds have been greatly improved in the past five years due to significant price differences with natural diamonds. Penetrate into a wider consumer market.

"It is estimated that the production of laboratory diamonds used in jewelry has increased from a few hundred thousand carats of polished annually four years ago to nearly 3 million carats in 2021, valued at nearly 2 billion U.S. dollars. Percentage of digits," Zimnsky said.

The number of suppliers and retailers of these alternative products has also increased significantly, for novelties and as carbon neutral brands and "super materials" industrial applications.

»Background reading: synthetic, man-made, laboratory-grown: what should we call these diamonds?

“Due to significant price differences, many consumers who choose laboratory diamonds instead of natural diamonds seem to be doing this,” Zimnsky said, adding that according to a price survey, “people can buy better than natural diamonds. Diamonds."-An average quality 2.15 carat laboratory diamond solitaire, the price is comparable to a 1.00 carat natural diamond. "

Zimnisky believes that the price difference between lab-made diamonds and natural diamonds has steadily expanded in recent years, "in some cases, from 10-15% a few years ago to 75% or more."

The price difference is the "discount" of a lab-made diamond relative to a natural diamond of similar size and quality.

Since laboratory-made diamond companies may use branding and other strategies, marketing can focus on low-priced jewelry and high-priced natural diamond products with less competition.

In the long term, the greatest growth in laboratory-made diamonds is expected to come from new and emerging industrial applications, such as medical equipment, advanced thermal management equipment, energy storage, and semiconductors—an industry estimated to be worth nearly $5 billion.

"The market size of these applications far exceeds that of jewelry, and end users are more likely to judge indiscriminately whether a diamond is man-made or natural," Zimnisky added.

»The full report with data tables and graphs is here. 

The Great Diamond Debate is a series of special edition publications covering the international diamond market. They have gained a huge readership and respect around the world-in addition to the print version, the digital version has more than 90,000 impressions.

• Reading: The Great Diamond Debate I: Natural and Synthetic »Reading: The Great Diamond Debate II: Fact and Fiction»