Recent months have seen the value of diamonds become the subject of much interrogation, with the emergence – and relative popularity – of lab-grown gems, and a broader decline in luxury spending the key factors weighing heavily on the industry. In February, De Beers CEO Al Cook acknowledged that the brand had built up a diamond inventory worth around US$2 billion. This excess of supply led to a halt in production and on April 23, the diamond specialists announced a reduction in global output to 26-29 million carats, down from 29-32 million.
According to a production report by De Beers’ parent company Anglo American, this has led to a rise in average cost from US$80 to US$90 per carat. Nevertheless, De Beers has hailed 2024 as the year for a rebound. “The recovery in rough diamond demand is expected to be gradual through the rest of the year,” Anglo American said.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"De Beers’ 1888 Master Diamonds collection","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/15/509f2fc2-5768-4f0c-bf77-653ce2cf3a05_3225703e.jpg"} De Beers’ 1888 Master Diamonds collection The prediction rests on belief in a wider economic recovery, creating more spending power in luxury sectors, as well as a decline in the price of natural diamonds’ lab-grown counterparts. Lab-grown diamonds had been claiming an increasingly large market share, which led to a si.