De Beers CEO Signals US Diamond Recovery, Criticizes China’s Fake Stones Grown “In Microwaves”

De Beers Chief Executive Officer Al Cook spoke with Bloomberg Television on Tuesday at the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town, South Africa, highlighting early signs of a recovery in the US diamond market. The industry has faced significant pressure from cash-strapped consumers, while a surge in lab-grown diamonds from China has sent prices tumbling. 

“So we saw some good signs in demand just before Christmas. In November and December, we saw demand for diamond jewelry in the US up around 8% year on year. So, there are some encouraging signals. Demand in the US has been reduced by lab-grown diamonds,” Cook said. 

He explained, “We have to tell the story of natural diamonds far better than we have. Lab-grown diamonds are like taking a poster of the Mona Lisa and putting it up in an art gallery and telling people it’s the real thing. It’s not – a natural diamond is created over a billion years, while lab-grown diamonds are created in a microwave in China in three weeks.” 

Separately, Bloomberg noted:

Anglo American Plc CEO Duncan Wanblad said on Monday that the mining giant won’t let its struggling De Beers diamond business be a drag on its restructuring. Wanblad said the company intended to exit De Beers by the end of this year, but given the state of the market that could spill over into 2026.

The diamond industry has been hammered by a twin crisis: cash-strapped consumers amid a luxury downturn and the proliferation of lab-grown diamonds flooding the world by China. 

Cook pointed out in the interview that India has overtaken China to become the second-biggest market. He commented: ”But we see growth, the regrowth of Chinese demand being a longer-term story,” adding, “The good news is that India has taken over where China was.” 

According to Bloomberg data, citing the Diamond Standard Index, diamond prices have plunged to the lowest on record, with data going back to early 2002.

Diamond deflation.