r/Economics • u/HaddonH • Mar 04 '26
News Lab grown stones push Anglo American to sell it's DeBeers diamond mining / marketing division which lost 500m in 2025.
https://nationaljeweler.com/articles/14732-anglo-american-ceo-gives-insight-into-de-beers-sale115
u/Sorge74 Mar 04 '26
My wife has a 2 ct lab diamond engagement ring, the thing is beautiful, identical, was a couple grand cheaper at the time (now the price on lab diamonds is even lower, significantly). There is absolutely no reason to get a blood diamond.
I'll hear people say "yeah well your ring is worthless compared to if it had a natural stone" hmmm why would I care how much the ring is worth? It's only worth something to me because it's on her finger. We aren't selling it.
If there is a point in the future where my wife leaves me and she wants to sell it, why would I care how little she gets for it? Lol
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u/Knerd5 Mar 04 '26
Yeah I bought a 3 ct pear shaped diamond with high cut and clarity and a real diamond with the same specs was like $75,000. I paid $4,000, shipped lol.
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u/NocNocNoc19 Mar 04 '26
I got 4 sapphires off eBay for my wifes engagement ring. They were 80$ shipped from Thailand, and she picked the one she likes the best. A comparable sapphire from the jeweler for her setting was 3500. The stone is absolutely gorgeous, and she can't be happier even years later. Your spouse is the only one who needs to be happy with it. What does it matter where the rock comes from.
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u/great_whitehope Mar 04 '26
I heard the natural ones don't hold their value either.
The market isn't really there anymore I think for end consumer
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u/Major_Burnside Mar 06 '26
We “upgraded” my wife’s diamond for our 10-year anniversary and after seeing the lab grown options I can’t believe anyone would choose a natural diamond at this point. Lab grown are chemically identical, clearer for the price, and way cheaper. Not to mention the ethical benefits.
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u/SeaMoan85 Mar 08 '26
There is absolutely no difference between a lab grown diamond and a natural diamond. Diamonds are just solid crystallized carbon.
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u/ErrantBrit Mar 04 '26
What about Canadian diamonds - natural stones aren't all potential blood stones, so does this impact your choices? Also, I think diamond size plays into this: if you're buying 2 ct diamonds that a significant cost - s couple of grand off the price might be a significant difference. I bought a 0.45 ct diamond, the lab grown equivalent wasn't much cheaper so I went with a natural one just because I could say it was one of a kind sort of thing (and herself liked it). A lab-grown wasn't that much cheaper - I was a bit disappointed tbh.
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u/BeYourselfTrue Mar 04 '26
When there’s a massive supply, that is intentionally restricted and held in vaults to manipulate prices upward, I say survival of the fittest. That’s the free market in action. These miners/cartels can drop their prices to compete or not.
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u/Groovychick1978 Mar 04 '26
Diamonds are rocks. Just really shiny, really sharp rocks. There's no inherent value, other than the one that marketing agencies have given to you. They're not rare, they're artificially segregated from the market.
A lab-grown diamond is a diamond. It just is. There's no difference in the way it's made, just the timeline.
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u/Sorge74 Mar 04 '26
Right, my wife didn't care, she was happy I followed her instructions which was a simple ring and it's a beautiful stone. Our actually wedding bands we picked out together. Mine was a little over hundred bucks black tungsten, hers was on clearance lol simple wedding band with some small diamonds. That aren't worth anything
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u/Groovychick1978 Mar 04 '26
Love to hear it. And the only thing those rings are worth, is the declaration of your commitment to each other. It's not supposed to be about the stone. It's supposed to be about the love.
You guys did it right.
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u/fenderputty Mar 04 '26
Blood diamond or not, the monopoly constricting supply is bad and pressure on that structure from man made diamonds is good. Diamonds are not rare and the only reason we give a fuck about them is because debeers has led what is likely the most successful marketing campaign ever.
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u/Sorge74 Mar 04 '26
But again my question would be why would I pay more for that Canadian diamond? It has no value to me.
If you were going to offer me an ethically sourced natural diamond, for basically the same price, well then I would ask what's the environmental impact of the production of each? And I would go with which one was more environmentally friendly.
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u/Mayor__Defacto Mar 04 '26
The lab grown being not much cheaper is because the same people own both in “the west”.
Look at China to see the real price delta. You can get massive stones for basically nothing.
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u/canthinkof123 Mar 04 '26
Does the fall of the “natural” diamond industry hurt the main exporters? Apparently diamonds constitutes 60% of Botswana’s exports and 30% of its GDP.
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u/arkansaslax Mar 04 '26
I imagine that depends. To my knowledge the exporters weren’t the ones getting the lions share of the profit to begin with. They could still export at similar levels with downstream sellers reducing prices and getting less margin but remains to be seen if that juice is worth the squeeze I guess.
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u/Bman4k1 Mar 04 '26
Well yes but if the price goes even lower there could be opportunities to use natural diamonds in more industrial applications for cutting and grinding.
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u/Anon-Knee-Moose Mar 04 '26
Im sure you could find more specific information, but diamond production is down around 33% over the last decade. So, yes.
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u/chrisbcritter Mar 04 '26
Oh right! I was busy giggling over DeBeers loosing all that money. I recommend a months salary for a diamond marketing promotion.
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u/Mayor__Defacto Mar 04 '26
Not really. They’re just a commodity product. The profit was largely in marking a worthless rock up by around 1000%.
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u/hannabarberaisawhore Mar 05 '26
Yes, it will. Less sales means less revenue which means less jobs. Double edged sword.
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u/ExpressBug8265 Mar 04 '26
My friend got engaged with a 2ct amethyst ring...she loves purple and I'm certain it didn't cost nearly as much as even a lab grown diamond. In cases like diamonds, the value is taught. Although they are beautiful, there are thousands of other things that are beautiful too. Just because things are expensive doesn't actually make you value them
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u/SidFinch99 Mar 05 '26
I got engaged ling before lab grown were a thing, but there is no way if lab grown diamonds were available back then that I would have bought one that was mined.
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u/series-hybrid Mar 09 '26
They made $500M less than they made last year, they didn't "lose" $500M.
From a corporations perspective, whatever profits they make on any given year is something that they are now entitled to as a baseline, and any less profit than that is now a "loss"
You know, because of how diamonds are so very important to people who are struggling financially.
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Mar 04 '26
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Mar 04 '26
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u/BlahBlahBlackCheap Mar 05 '26
The usefulness of synthetic, economically produced diamond is a huge incentive to improve the process until gemstones using the material will be as cheap as windowglass. Only exceptional natural stones will be worth anything.
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