In a news report on December 11, 2025, the price of a one-carat lab-grown diamond in China has dropped from the previous 8000 yuan to the current 3500 yuan, less than one-tenth of the price of a natural diamond of equivalent quality. This news has become a hot topic online.
Lab-grown diamond prices have seen a significant decline in recent years in China. According to a report from Red Star News on December 10, in 2020, the price of a one-carat lab-grown diamond was 8000 yuan, but is now being sold for around 3500 yuan, while a natural diamond of similar quality still requires over 40,000 yuan. At the same time, in the Chinese jewelry market, lab-grown diamonds account for more than 40% of total sales.
The drop in lab-grown diamond prices has shattered the hopes of customers who purchased these diamonds hoping for them to retain their value.
The report mentioned that ten years ago, a woman surnamed Li from Chengdu spent 100,000 yuan on a one-carat diamond ring, which is now valued at no more than 30,000 yuan at most; a woman in Anhui who spent 18,000 yuan on a diamond ring a decade ago can now only get a recycling price of 180 yuan, a depreciation of up to 99%. The woman lamented, “I should have bought gold instead.” In 2012, the price of gold was about 338 yuan per gram. If one had purchased gold worth 18,000 yuan back then, its current market value would exceed 45,000 yuan, while a diamond of the same value now can only be traded for around a thousand yuan.
Public records show that lab-grown diamonds, also known as synthetic diamonds or cultured diamonds, are multi-crystal diamonds formed by the aggregation of diamond crystals with a diameter of 10 to 30 nanometers, possessing the same physical and chemical properties as natural diamonds.
In China, artificial diamond production is mainly concentrated in Henan and Shandong, with the Chinese production capacity accounting for over 75% in 2024.