Editor’s Note
Wholesale prices for lab-grown diamonds have fallen sharply, with a 37% year-on-year decline in Q3 2025. This article examines the ongoing price trends and the underlying market dynamics.
Wholesale trading prices for lab-grown diamonds are continuing to fall, with an additional 37% year-on-year decline in the third quarter of 2025. According to researcher Edahn Golan’s LGD Wholesale Prices List, wholesale prices declined 9% quarter-on-quarter. The largest price declines were seen in 3-carat rounds, which plummeted 43% year-over-year.
Technically, lab-grown diamonds are two distinct products with two different origins. One is created using the more expensive Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) technology, mostly in India. The alternate technology, called High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT), is almost solely produced in China and is cheaper to produce.
The smaller, better colour/clarity lab-grown diamonds are predominantly HPHT. As a result, better colour/clarity 1-carat rounds are currently trading at a lower wholesale price than lower colour/clarity CVD stones. Usually, it’s the other way around. This is something retailers should be aware of.
Other current price trends include price hikes. This is not entirely new, although it is more common than it was previously. This is especially noticeable in fancy forms, where 1-carat oval shapes are in high demand, driving prices up 3% compared to Q2 2025.
The Wholesale Price List reflects wholesale market trade, not retail costs. The average retail cost of a round, 1-carat IGI-certified LGD was $178 per carat in Q3. At the same time, retailers cut their costs by a third in the previous year. Wholesalers and retailers enjoy exceptionally high gross margins on lab-grown diamonds.
US jewellery retailers charge large markups on LGD prices, resulting in an average gross margin of 79% for 1-3 carat rounds. According to Tenoris (www.tenoris.bi) data, the best-selling LGD item in the second quarter was a 2.16-carat round E/VS1, which accounted for 20% of loose LGD sales.