Lab-grown diamond exports’ value dropped in FY24 Q3 but volume increased

Lab-grown diamond exports decreased by 18.46% year-on-year in the third quarter of the 2024 financial year despite their retail prices having dropped by 45% in the current fiscal. Businesses in the sector attribute the fall to lower prices and noted that export volume is up. 

The third quarter of the 2024 financial year saw lab-grown diamond exports total $83.51 million compared to $102.41 million in the third quarter of the 2023 financial year, ET Bureau reported. However, export volume is still growing as lab-grown diamonds become increasingly accepted by consumers. 
 
“Prices have fallen by 40% to 45% on average,” said Limelight Diamonds’ director Pooja Sheth Madhavan, the Economic Times reported. “The price fall was a curated strategy of the leading growers to reduce super abnormal profits as this was attracting new entrants to establish even 15 to 20 machines and the quality of production was also adversely affected. Therefore, the growers allowed the price fall and reduced their abnormal profits such that the capex investment breakeven period increased to approximately seven years from 18 months earlier.” 

The retail price and profit decrease is designed to create a barrier to new players entering the market to prevent saturation in the future and enable the current leading players to maintain their trajectories. However, following the price drop, prices have now stabilised, according to Sheth Madhavan and should remain around the same level for the foreseeable future.