According to Aruna Gaitonde, Asian editor Rough & Polished, a website dedicated to a analysing the processes determining the development of global mining, precious stones and metals markets, the Henan-based Zhengzhou Sino-Crystal Diamond increased its investment in R&D by 14.4 per cent to $US75.2 billion last year.
“The company’s technological advancements in diamond making, refining, and polishing, as well as its equipment, have allowed it to produce gem-quality diamonds in white, pink and blue. Also, the increased investment was to develop artificial intelligence in manufacturing and to tap China's growing consumer market for jewellery lab-grown diamonds.”
She says the Chinese domestic market has rapidly increased because of the demand shortage in the international market: “In China, where 90 per cent of the world's LGDs are produced, diamonds grown for the consumer market take up 3 per cent of the total diamond market.”
Gaitonde points to another Chinese company, Henan Huanghe Whirlwind, a listed company that specialises in researching, developing, producing and the sale of super-hard material and related products. A superhard material is a material with a hardness value exceeding 40 gigapascals (GPa) when measured by the Vickers hardness test.
“Huanghe Whirlwind can now provide customers with product categories, complete specifications and stable performance of all kinds of superhard materials and products, including superhard materials monocrystalline and products, cubic boron nitride and products, diamond polycrystalline and products, as well as auxiliary super hard materials.
“When it comes to lab-grown diamonds, Huanghe Whirlwind can be regarded as the biggest market leader at present. The single-crystal diamond produced by Huanghe Whirlwind is the basic product of the superhard material industry chain and the company is one of the most important superhard material enterprises in Henan Province,” Gaitonde explains.
The quantity of lab-created diamonds produced by Huanhge Whirlwind in 2020 accounted for about 20 per cent of the global lab-created diamond market, of which Gaitonde believes the “high-end quality will account for more than 50 per cent”
Her report, published last week, concludes: “In recent times, the domestic market of China has been growing rapidly and the shortage of demand in the international market has resulted in the growth of the Chinese market. In China, where 90 per cent of the world's LGDs are produced, diamonds grown for the consumer market take up 3 per cent of the total diamond market.”
She believes that the lab-created diamond market is forecast to amount to 10 per cent of the diamond market worldwide by 2030. In 2019, China was by far the world’s largest producer, accounting for a 56 per cent share of lab-created diamond production while India accounted for 15 per cent share with the US producing around 13 per cent.
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