Economic headwinds, Chinese caution and the threat of lab-grown are the trade’s current concerns. But the recurring difficulties that existed before Covid-19 have not gone away.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” wrote French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849. The famous proverb is understood to mean no matter how tumultuous a situation is, some underlying patterns remain consistent.
The diamond industry must keep this in mind as it navigates the current market slump. Can the trade learn from the past and bring about a sustainable improvement? While US economic weakness, rising competition from lab-grown diamonds and the slowdown in China sparked the downturn, market inefficiencies over the past 15 years have also contributed.