Bain & Co.’s 7th annual Global Diamond Report, issued earlier this week, has found several interesting trends in production, marketing and demand for diamonds worldwide. Among them, according to IDEX Online: “rough diamond players are likely to increase their marketing spend by about 50% in 2017 over previous years to promote the diamond story”.
According to the report, demand for rough diamonds increased 20% year-on-year in 2016. However,”waning consumer interest in diamond jewelry and intense competition from other luxury segments” has led to significant investments to promote diamond sales. Rough diamond players “plan to invest about $150 million in both generic and private brand marketing in 2017” – a 50% increase over previous years.
Global rough diamond production volume remained relatively flat in 2016 at 127 million carats. In 2016, Global sales of diamond jewelry were “roughly stable”, with the US remaining the largest global diamond jewelry market.
As for 2017, the outlook “is stable across the diamond value chain”. Bain’s projections are upbeat over the long term. Bain has highlighted, however, that “future growth rests on two key assumptions: continued demand for diamond jewelry and a limited substitution of natural diamonds by lab-grown stones”.
