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LABORATORY-GROWN DIAMONDS

NEW LAB-GROWN DIAMOND REPORT SUGGESTS

Photo: Jimmy Chain on Unsplash.com

NEW LAB-GROWN DIAMOND REPORT SUGGESTS
MARKET SIZE MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUSLY ESTIMATED

 

The global market for laboratory-grown grown diamonds was worth $22.45 billion in 2022 and is forecast to grow to $37.32 billion by 2028, a study by ResearchAndMarkets.com has noted. In volume, the market equaled 9.13 million carats in 2022 the study suggested.

The figure provided is considerably higher than that estimated earlier by diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky, who at the end of last year told National Jeweler that sales of laboratory-grown diamond jewelry would approach $8 billion in 2022, which equaled about 10 percent of the total global diamond jewelry market.

According to the more recent study, the lab-grown diamond market market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of approximately 9 percent from 2023 through 2028.

Some of the discrepancy between the studies may be that while the Zimnisky reports focuses specifically on jewelry, the other considers both jewelry and industry, which is increasingly using lab-grown diamonds for a variety of applications, including biotechnology, quantum computing, high-sensitivity sensors, thermal conductors and optical materials.

A single-crystal CVD diamond disc weighing 155 carats. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, by Matthias Schreck, Stefan Gsell, Rosaria Brescia & Martin Fischer)

CVD LAB-GROWN FASTEST GROWING SEGMENT

The report divides the lab-grown diamond market into two segments, based on manufacturing method – chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and high pressure high temperature (HPHT).

The CVD-grown diamond market is both the largest and fastest growing segment of global lab grown diamond market, it states, owing to low costs associated with CVD production, increasing demand for lab grown diamonds by end user industries, low space consumption of CVD machines and increased ability of CVD techniques to grow diamonds over large areas and on various substrates with fine control over chemical impurities and properties of diamond produced.

On the basis of size, the report divides the market into three segments — below 2 carat, 2-4 carat, and above 4 carats.

The below 2-carat segment is currently the largest and fastest growing segment of global lab grown diamond market, owing to growing popularity of below 2-carat weight diamonds in the jewelry market, the affordable price range of these diamonds, and rising disposable income among a population that before was unlikely to buy diamonds, especially when not associated with bridal jewelry.

OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGES

The report says that the Asia Pacific region represents in the largest and fastest growing geographic area for the lab grown diamond market, owing to rapidly growing urban population, its large consumer base, increasing manufacturing activities by various end-user industries, rising Internet penetration, and the presence of numerous reactor plants for synthetic diamond manufacturing.

Asia Pacific includes China, Japan, India, South Korea, with China holding the largest share.

The wide range of industrial uses provides the lab-grown diamond industry with significant growth potential, as its products are being used more in a widening range of sectors, among them construction, semiconductors and other electronic products, mining, oil and gas and precision machining.

But market growth could be negatively impacted by, increased competition from naturally mined diamonds, where the report says there is is an increased preference for naturally mined diamonds, as the are seen to be unique, rare, special and one of a kind, in comparison to lab grown diamonds that are produced in bulk and have no uniqueness or supply constraints attached to them.

Also, since there is no rarity attached to them, the report says, the value of lab grown diamonds will continue to depreciate, negatively impacting the resale value of these diamonds and making it more costly to upgrade them in the future.

The Asia Pacific region represents in the largest and fastest growing geographic area for the lab-grown diamond market. (Photo: Matthieu Buhler on Unsplash.com)

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