Global diamond jewelry demand rose 2.9 percent year on year to $81.4 billion in 2014, according to industry insight data published by De Beers on Friday, the 20th of March.The research sets a new high for global demand, but also represents the slowest growth in dollar terms since 2009 (see Figure 1).
“We saw continued growth in consumer spending on diamond jewelry, which was a pretty good result considering the fragile world economy,” Stephen Lussier, De Beers executive vice president of marketing, told Rapaport News. “The other positive is that retailers across all key diamond jewelry markets are optimistic they will continue to see that level of growth in 2015.”
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The company noted that optimism is highest in the U.S. and India, while growth in China is expected to improve as the year progresses beyond the first quarter of 2015.
However, in 2014, the De Beers research showed that the pace of growth slowed largely due to a deceleration in China, India and Japan. The U.S. was a bright spot as demand was driven by the economic recovery, growing job numbers and an improving stock market, while declining oil prices further increased consumers’ spending power, the company added.
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“The pace of growth slowed largely due to a deceleration in China, India and Japan.”
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De Beers revealed the following findings for 2014 from its research:
• U.S. diamond jewelry demand increased 7.2 percent to $37.3 billion.
• Demand in China grew 5.2 percent to $10.1 billion.
• Demand in India was flat at $3.6 billion.
• Japan’s diamond jewelry demand fell 12.1 percent to $5.8 billion.
• Demand in the Gulf grew 2.5 percent to $4.1 billion.
• In the rest of the world, demand was flat at $20.5 billion.
