Diamond Foundry, the producer of lab grown diamonds, has raised prices of its stones by 15% “across all channels”, as of January 1, 2019.

 “After careful monitoring of the market situation over the past months, we see demand increasingly outpacing supply,” the Company said in a press release prior to the move.  “This is due to the increase in size and frequency that buyers in the diamond industry are wanting aboveground diamonds whereas the corresponding supply is not increasing at the same rate.”

Diamond Foundry also said that supply of manmade diamonds, which  depends on “advanced semiconductor grade technology”, is currently  being ramped up.

The Company said: “Our 2019 pricing is based on MSRPs and three levels of channel pricing for each of the two product categories: Program Diamonds and Certified Uniques.”

Diamond Foundry described Program Diamonds as stones “cut to spec for jewellery manufacturers according to dimensional tolerances and meeting defined colour and clarity grade ranges”. Program diamonds are not individually certified or warranted.

On the other hand, Certified Uniques are diamonds that are “individually certified by a globally recognised gemmological institution for the unique characteristics of each”.  Most of these diamonds  are  larger than 0.85 ct and are “warranted for their gemmological attributes as well as their value”, Diamond Foundry said.    

The Company has put outs its MSRP pricing  as:

- For Program Diamonds:  US$ 250, US$ 750, or US$ 1000 per carat depending on carat size, with VS1/I or better quality guaranteed;

- For Certified Uniques:  55% off Rap, which is a 30% consumer benefit relative to mined diamonds offered e.g. by Bluenile, James Allen (at 30% off Rap).

Further, Diamond Foundry  said that it was  implementing three tiers of channel pricing relative to MSRP outlining it as:

- a retailer margin of 30% relative to MSRP;

- an additional margin of 15% below that for distributors (and manufacturers' programme diamonds larger than 0.85ct); and

- an additional 15% below that for monthly volume buyers of parcels of our rough diamond mixes.

 After all this, Diamond Foundry’s final words are: “Of course, once our diamonds are set in jewellery creations their price will depend on that creation -- and may go as high as US$ 57,000 per carat e.g. for an all-diamond ring.”