According to the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), lab-created diamond exports increased by 31 per cent to 18.84 million carats in the year ending March 2026. In contrast, natural diamond exports declined by 4 per cent to 16 million carats.
"As recent trends suggest, consumer demand in natural diamonds continues to move upscale. It is possible that lab-grown diamond exports crossed the 50 per cent threshold earlier, although historical volume data is not yet available," writes industry analyst Edahn Golan of Tenoris.
"The more important question is not exactly when it happened, but why.
“This reflects a weakness in the positioning of natural diamonds. When consumers want a diamond, yet prefer a factory-made product in order to save money rather than purchase a smaller natural diamond, it points to a blind spot in natural diamond marketing. What appears to be missing is strong status positioning for natural diamonds.
"For lab-grown diamonds, the message of 'we are the same as natural diamonds' successfully exploited that blind spot."
Around a decade ago, India exported just 10,000 carats of polished lab-created diamonds between 2015 and 2016, compared with far higher volumes today.
According to the report, despite losing volume leadership to lab-created diamonds, natural diamonds continue to dominate in value, reflecting a significant price difference – about $USD760 ($AUD1,060) per carat for natural diamonds compared with about $USD60 ($AUD83) per carat for lab-created diamonds.
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