According to CCTV Financial Reports, diamonds have been the darling of the luxury market for decades, but the price of diamonds with certificates has fallen by 35% to 40% in the past year.
The diamond market is cold, but the gold market is getting hotter.
Netizen Xiao Tang told reporters: "I'd rather buy gold." Don said, "Diamonds are not worth much from the moment they get their hands, so it is enough to buy a moissanite for a wedding diamond ring." Don said that buying diamond rings is only to satisfy the ritual sense of marriage, and he does not have much time to wear after marriage, "Gold provides a sense of security that diamonds cannot match." ”
The "sky-high myth" is lonely?
According to CCTV Finance reported on the 20th, Antwerp, Belgium has the title of "European Diamond Capital", there is a world-renowned diamond street, there are 4 diamond exchanges on the street, thousands of diamond wholesalers gather here, and a large number of diamond transactions are completed here every year. Kevin is a diamond wholesaler from India.
Indian diamond wholesaler Kevin: The price of certified diamonds has fallen by 35 to 40 percent in the past year. Among them, diamonds between 50 and 3 carats were the hardest hit, and sales fell by 30 to 35 percent over the same period.
In addition, the price of natural diamonds has also been hit by man-made diamonds. The owner of a high-end diamond brand store told reporters that unlike in the past, more than half of the customers will choose man-made diamonds recently.
In the past year, due to the sharp rise in the cost of living and the downgrade of consumption, people in many European countries are no longer picky about the grade of diamond rings, and man-made diamonds have quickly seized the market share of natural diamonds.
Fleischteger, director of the Federation of Belgian Diamond Exchanges: Two years ago, man-made diamonds were 40% cheaper than natural diamonds, then 60% cheaper, and this year they are 70%, 80%, even 99% cheaper. Maybe in the future, you will also give you a diamond when you buy soap at the supermarket.
According to data compiled by Tenoris, a global jewelry industry analyst, the market share of man-made diamonds has been increasing since 2021, reaching 49.9% in July this year, which is very close to the 50% tipping point, and is expected to rise further in the future.
Since the beginning of this year, the price of natural diamonds has plunged, making people start to think whether the "sky-high myth" of diamonds is gradually coming to an end?
According to the Global Natural Diamond Price Index, compiled by independent diamond analyst Kiniski, prices are down 13.6% so far this year, while retraced 24.6% from previous all-time highs.
In addition, because De Beers monopolizes the industrial chain of natural diamonds, the weak demand for natural diamonds can also be felt through its performance. In August, De Beers' seventh sales cycle this year, the company sold $370 million in natural diamonds, down 42% year-over-year and 10% month-on-month, marking the company's fourth consecutive monthly decline in sales this year.
Over the past year, De Beers has cut the price of its mainstream product, 2 to 4 carats of natural diamonds, by 40 percent, and industry insiders say there is room for decline. In the worst-case scenario, prices will fall by another 20% to 25% or so in the coming year.
Russian diamond giants stop selling diamonds
According to media reports on September 20, Alrosa said in a memorandum sent to customers that the company would suspend rough diamond sales in September and October. Alrosa said it believed the move would address the supply-demand mismatch that had emerged in recent months.
Alrosa is one of the world's largest diamond giants, supplying about 1/3 of the world's diamonds, comparable to De Beers, which was a monopoly until the turn of the century.
Data show that the International Diamond Exchange diamond price index reached a historical peak of 158 in March 2022, and then fell all the way to the current 110, a new low in nearly five years, a decline of about 30%. Industry insiders said that the continued high inflation in many countries around the world is an important reason for this phenomenon.
Earlier this month, the Indian Diamond Association called on miners to limit supply. About 90% of the world's diamonds are cut, polished or traded by the Indian Diamond Association.
No value preservation
Netizen: To buy diamonds is to pay IQ tax
In addition to the impact of man-made diamonds, the lack of value preservation of natural diamonds is also an important reason for the continuous decline in their prices.
Many users said on social platforms that the diamond rings they bought at a high price experienced a "big dive" in price when recycling:
The recycling price of a diamond ring bought for 8,000 yuan is only 600 yuan, and a diamond ring of 30,000 yuan is only worth 2,000 yuan after 5 years...
Some people even said that the diamond ring they bought for 10,000 yuan turned out to be the most valuable 18k gold ring.
Second-hand diamond rings buy high and sell low, attracting many netizens to shout "buying diamonds is paying IQ tax".
In response to the problem of low recycling prices in the second-hand market of diamond rings, the reporter contacted a jewelry recycling store in Henan, and the jewelry appraiser of the store said: "When buying diamond rings, it is expensive because the merchant's advertising is good, after all, the meaning is different when buying, and the brand surcharge is high." Now diamonds are not a scarce product, they are the price that is speculated by the market, and they are all at a flat price when they are purchased. If diamonds are recycled into the secondary market, they can only be priced according to their condition. ”
In addition, according to the Securities Times, the reporter recently randomly interviewed several young consumers who were choosing gold jewelry in Shenzhen Shuibei, and when asked why they chose gold jewelry instead of diamond jewelry, the most common reply was that gold is more "value preservation", in addition to gold jewelry is easy to realize, diamond jewelry prices are opaque, etc.
The reporter saw at the scene that a 0.5-carat 18K gold white diamond women's ring with a price of about 57,000 yuan was actually sold for only 2.5% off the list price. Moreover, the reporter visited a number of stores and found that the prices and discounts of different stores were different.
There are also shops on site that the recycling price of natural diamonds will be discounted. On the other hand, many jewellery shops mark the recycling price of gold jewellery as 460 yuan, which means the purchase price minus 10 yuan on the day, and can also be "discounted" on the spot.
The news knows more:
Gold prices are "skyrocketing", is it still worth buying?
Recently, the price of gold has continued to rise. What is the future of gold prices? How should consumers deploy their investments? According to Zhang Bo, investment director of Guangdong Yuebao Gold Group and a national registered senior gold analyst, near the double festival, short-term demand will continue to raise the price of gold, invest in gold, and buy in batches after the price correction after the holiday. Banks and gold stores can purchase physical gold bars, investment gold bars, gold and silver commemorative coins and other varieties that meet the national (Shanghai Gold Institute) standards.
Ai Xiaojun, fund manager of Cathay Fund Gold Fund ETF, analyzed that in the long run, the overall trend of global recession, the rising demand for global central banks to buy gold, and the trend of global "de-dollarization" make gold expected to become a new round of pricing anchors, these three factors make gold have upward momentum, if there is a pullback, you can consider bargain hunting. In terms of domestic gold prices, long-term large premiums are unsustainable, and once the depreciation of the RMB against the US dollar is eliminated, the large premium of the domestic gold price will be effectively absorbed.
Song Jiangzhen, investment director of Guangdong Yuebao Gold Group and a national registered senior gold analyst, also said that the overall demand for gold has still shown a growth trend since this year, which provides solid support for the rise in gold prices, coupled with the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike is nearing the end, after the biggest resistance to gold prices is removed, the future gold price trend may be beyond imagination. He emphasized that "consumers investing in gold, in addition to paying attention to the price of gold, the important thing is to allocate appropriately and consume rationally according to their own capabilities."
At the same time, Zhu Zhigang, vice president and chief gold analyst of Guangdong Gold Association, also suggested, "Investors should first choose varieties when investing in gold, should focus on gold bar and gold coin investment, and secondly, investors should adopt a small batch strategy in the purchase process, and buy at a relatively safe price to buy."
Comprehensive: Guangzhou Daily, CCTV Finance, Daily Economic News, Securities Times
Source: 909FM