South Korea’s sole lab-grown diamond producer KDT Diamond Co. will build its first overseas production facility in India by early next year to meet demand in the rapidly growing market, while expanding its domestic sales-focused business into other countries.
The company said it will break ground on a 2,000-square-meter lab-grown diamond manufacturing and polishing plant in India in November.
Once it is up and running from early March next year as scheduled, KDT will be capable of producing diamonds of 36,000 carats in its first year of operation. Its production capacity will eventually increase to 100,000 carats a year, some of which the company said might be exported to other countries.
South Korea has now become the world’s eighth country to enter the market. Only eight countries in the world, including India, China and the US, produce lab-grown diamonds.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished
