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Yujing Liu

Chinese millennials and those born after 1995, or Generation Z, are leading the world in buying diamonds and fuelling demand in the world’s second-largest diamond market, a study by De Beers has shown.
Buyers under 40 bought nearly 80 per cent of all diamond jewellery sold in China last year, compared to 60 per cent for the US, according to the study published on Thursday.
Young consumers in China buying diamonds for weddings and occasions are on the rise, creating a golden opportunity for diamond brands to tap, according to Bruce Cleaver, chief executive of De Beers Group, one of the world’s largest diamond miners.
“The parents of millennials in China have generally not been in the diamond tradition as much as their American counterparts, simply because we’ve been building the [American] market since the 1930s,” said Cleaver.
Hong Kong leads global trend of women buying diamonds for themselves, says De Beers
“This represents the opportunity in China, which I think is enormous.”
In 2017 China’s diamond industry accounted for 16 per cent of the US$82 billion global market, up from non-existence two decades ago.

The Chinese market expanded by 3 per cent last year, according to De Beers, recovering from a government crackdown on luxury spending during the previous two years.
Increasing disposable income, which has been growing at 12 per cent annually on average for the past decade, has been a major factor in driving growth, as well as better marketing of jewellery brands.
Average disposable income in China reached 25,974 yuan (US$3,793) last year.
Almost half of all Chinese brides received a diamond in 2017, up from less than 20 per cent in 2000. This compares with 70 per cent of brides in the more mature US market, contracting from the peak of 80 per cent of brides in the 1990s.
Infographic How big is the crazy rich Asian wealth gap?
In China the most popular size for wedding jewellery is between 0.14 to 0.49 carats, the study found, whereas for Americans the average size is more than one carat.
Women buying diamonds for themselves, a rising trend globally, made up a third of all diamond purchases in China last year.
Cleaver said the diamond giant would continue focusing on growing the natural diamond market in China, and had no plan to import synthetic lab-grown diamonds from the US.
De Beers broke with a long-held tradition in May when it unveiled plans to begin harvesting man-made diamonds and selling them to US consumers at a low price point. The strategy involves a U-turn that will see De Beers embrace the market for affordable, fun and fashionable diamonds in the world’s largest economy.
However, the initiative will remain a subsidiary business that will not cannibalise its natural diamonds business, Cleaver said.


In conversation: Bohan Qiu and Ian Hylton on the evolution of Chinese luxury fashion

How Remo Ruffini made Moncler a luxury powerhouse, from Grenoble to the Winter Olympics

China’s luxury market shows signs of life as LVMH records uptick in sales

China’s consumers refuse to open their wallets. Is ‘luxury-phobia’ the problem?

Luxury in China

Chinese millennials and Gen-Zs fuel demand for diamonds in the world’s No 2 market

Bruce Cleaver, CEO of De Beers Group, photographed in Wan Chai. 13SEP18 SCMP/Xiaomei Chen

China’s diamond industry accounted for 16 per cent of the US$82 billion global market in 2017. Photo: Bloomberg

Hong Kong leads global trend of women buying diamonds for themselves, says De Beers

De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver says women are more economically empowered than ever before. Photo: May Tse

De Beers fights lab-grown diamonds with technology as China’s synthetic gems threaten viability of their market

The arrival of lab-grown diamonds has challenged the widely-held assumption that diamond prices could only go up

Posties, 25 July 2012. News column_Stock Photo: Some diamond on a table Image ID: 33386443__(one time use only)

Shutterstock 299702750.jpg This shutterstock image show close-up of person looking at diamond with magnifying loupe. [FEATURES] Photo / SHUTTERSTOCK

Jonathan Kendall, president of De Beers’ International Institute of Diamond Grading and Research, leads a team of researchers in London in the fight against synthetic diamonds being sold as real ones. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

De Beers to sell man-made, ‘fun and pretty’ diamonds for the first time in its history

Lightbox Jewellery will start selling lab-made De Beers diamonds starting September 2018. Lab-made diamonds will appeal to millennials who would rather spend money on high-priced electronics or holidays.