Market insights

Swings in the rupee-dollar rate are showing up as day-to-day changes in wholesale polished quotes, on top of the underlying price trend.

Natural fancy yellow and pink diamonds are pricing further above colourless stones of comparable size, reversing a period of narrower premiums.

Lab-grown ovals, cushions and emerald cuts have stopped falling as fast as rounds did earlier this year, narrowing a gap that opened in 2025.

Diwali and wedding-season buying is concentrated in stones under a carat, pulling asking prices up faster there than at larger sizes.

Standard GIA turnaround for natural diamond reports has stretched by several business days as festive-season submissions rise.

Once niche fancy shapes, heart and trillion cuts have picked up in orders for anniversary and statement jewellery this year.

IGI has overtaken GIA as the most common grading lab behind lab-grown parcels reaching us, though GIA still leads for natural stones.

Appraisals written during the price slide of the past two years are now understating replacement cost as natural prices recover.

Growth times for larger lab-grown rough have shortened, and 3 ct-plus polished stones that were scarce a year ago are now routinely available.

Prices for small natural melee, under 0.18 ct, have flattened after roughly two years of steady declines driven by lab-grown substitution.

Cutting and polishing houses report fuller order books into the fourth quarter, which is starting to lengthen turnaround on custom cuts.

Strong blue fluorescence used to cut deeper into D-to-F natural prices; that discount has narrowed as buyers grow more comfortable with faint haze risk.

HPHT lab-grown diamonds once priced below CVD stones of the same grade; growers now report the two methods pricing within a point or two of each other.

Chemically pure Type IIa natural diamonds are pricing above ordinary D-to-F stones as cutters report fewer rough parcels yielding them.

Lab-grown wholesale prices fell about 13% over the year to the second quarter, but 1 ct rounds have steadied while 2 ct stones keep dropping.

Natural polished prices rose through the summer, led by stones under a carat, while larger sizes held broadly flat.

Miners have cut prices on mid-size rough, raised them on large goods and planned output pauses — a split now reaching polished prices.

Rounds have firmed faster than fancy shapes, and demand for ovals and other elongated cuts rewards good proportions while poorly made stones soften.

With lab-grown 2 ct prices still falling and larger natural stones holding steady, the difference between origins keeps growing with size.

The zero-duty access for natural stones agreed early in the year has not taken effect; for now a 10% duty applies to India-polished diamonds entering the US.

Top colour and clarity grades carry their steepest premiums in natural stones; in lab-grown, high clarity is the norm, so cut and size decide value.