The diamond business is losing market share to other jewelry products, complained Moti Ganz, president of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, in an Oct. 15 keystone address to the World Diamond Congress in Mumbai, India.

He noted that more jewelers were beginning to offer colored gemstones and even synthetic diamonds.

“During the past three years, these other gemstone categories have taken away yet another half percent from our market share,” he said. “So if this keeps going at the same pace, we’ll lose, within the next two decades, more than 20 percent of our market share among consumers.”

“Let’s face the reality: The retailers have good reasons to want and prefer these other gemstone categories, because they are guaranteed to make a profit with these goods,” Ganz continued. “At the outset, they’ll have the synthetic diamonds displayed in a discreet corner of their shops, but very quickly, these stones will be moved to center stage, as they will be proving to be very good for the retailers’ bottom line. Look how well cultured pearls are doing.”

Ganz also complained that diamond manufacturers’ profits were “almost zero,” at the same time that miners’ and retailers’ margins had increased.

“We cannot continue to buy rough at a loss,” he added, arguing that the leading producers “will need to find ways to encourage and support the diamond manufacturers.”

JCK