Global diamond jewellery sales have hit a record number of $79 billion in 2013 according to a new research report by De Beers. The report shows that global demand for diamond jewellery may continue to be on the rise in the future, based on the U.S. market’s growth as well as recent developments in China and India. Polished diamond sales in the U.S. had a seven per cent increase, while India and China had a 12 per cent annual growth rate between 2008 and 2013.
However, a rough diamond shortage may be on the horizon, as rough production in 2013 was 145 million carats, which is 30 million carats short of 2005’s numbers. As the diamond extraction process gets more expensive, labour, electricity and diesel are set to increase in cost even more in the future.
“Diamond supply is expected to plateau in the second half of the decade before declining from 2020 onwards,” the report said. CJ
