Editor’s Note
This article examines a significant shift in the luxury investment market, where the rise of lab-grown diamonds is dramatically affecting the value of natural stones. It explores how this disruption is redirecting some investors toward alternative tangible assets, such as the rare precious metal osmium.
For a long time, diamonds were not only sparkling jewelry but also a shining investment. This has radically changed with the triumphant advance of lab-grown diamonds. The prices for natural showpieces are plummeting. Value-oriented tangible asset investors are therefore searching for alternatives – and are finding it in the world’s rarest precious metal: Osmium.
The increasing popularity of lab-grown diamonds has put strong pressure on the prices of natural diamonds. Over the past two years, they fell by 26 percent, while synthetic diamonds even recorded a price decline of 74 percent, reports the trade magazine “Blickpunkt Juwelier”. The advantage of lab-grown stones: They can be produced faster and more cost-effectively. Particularly younger buyers are increasingly opting for lab-grown diamonds – not only for financial reasons but also due to their transparent origin. According to the British newspaper “The Guardian,” synthetic stones already account for 45 percent of the bridal jewelry market. And they are increasingly being produced using solar energy. They are the greenest stones in the industry, only unfortunately no longer rare. Because China naturally subsidizes this market, which in the West leads to a melting away of savings. Those who could once sell their diamonds for good prices can hardly find a buyer today.
Diamond industry giant De Beers is particularly feeling the consequences. To stabilize the value of its diamonds, the company reduced production by 20 percent and is currently holding back inventories worth several billion US dollars. At the same time, speculation is circulating about a possible sale by the parent company Anglo American. Additionally, there is weakening demand from China while the global economy is faltering. Even its own US subsidiary Lightbox Jewelry is on extremely shaky ground.
