Natural diamonds Image credit: Lucapa Diamond Company
(brinkwire.com) - With few jewelry stores open, consumers sitting on the sidelines and diamond exchanges closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the mined diamond industry has ground to a virtual halt amid efforts to grapple with the growing popularity of synthetic stones. Earnest Data estimates retail spending on jewelry in the U.S. was off 75% through April 1 while Dinesh Navadiya, GJEPC, estimated Indian diamond exports were off $846 million. “We’ve never had an environment where commercial activity right across the whole pipeline, let alone the whole luxury goods industry, has simply come to a halt,” David Prager, executive vice-president corporate affairs at De Beers, told Jeweller magazine. DeBeers, the world’s second largest diamond producer, estimated 2020 production will be down 20%.
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