Diamond Market Update | September 14, 2026

Two Questions About Manufactured Diamonds, Asked in Two Places

Two developments over the past several days concern manufactured diamonds rather than mined ones, and they point in different directions. On September 13, 2026, at the 52nd India Gems and Jewellery Awards in Mumbai, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that India should take global leadership in the entire value chain of laboratory-grown diamonds, extending from the machines that grow them through manufacturing to consumer brands and showrooms, according to news agency reports of his remarks. Separately, on September 11, 2026, trade press reported that the Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Association of America and the World Diamond Council intend to ask the Federal Trade Commission to adopt "synthetic" as the required descriptor when the Commission next revises its Jewelry Guides, a revision reported as scheduled for 2028. Both items are reported statements of intent, not adopted rules or published policy.

The terminology question follows the recommendation from the World Jewellery Confederation, known as CIBJO, reported on September 7, that its Blue Books use "synthetic" rather than "laboratory-grown" or "laboratory-created." Current Federal Trade Commission guidance recognizes terms including "laboratory-grown" and "laboratory-created" where the disclosure clearly and conspicuously conveys that the diamond was not mined. Nothing in United States disclosure practice changes on the strength of a trade association's stated intention, and a petition to the Commission is not a rule. For a dealer, the practical effect today is unchanged: the wording on a report, a memo and a listing must each say plainly what the stone is, and the wording appropriate in one destination market is not automatically appropriate in another. Read the CIBJO statement. Review the FTC Jewelry Guides.

Taken together, the two items describe a market whose manufactured segment is simultaneously attracting industrial investment and contested description. Neither changes how a specific stone should be represented in a transaction today. What a buyer or seller can rely on remains the same: the stone's origin as documented, the report that accompanies it, the date of that report, and a description that states what the stone is rather than what it resembles.

For assistance sourcing, evaluating or selling natural and laboratory-grown diamonds, visit the Pryce House Diamond Room.

Statements by public officials and trade associations describe stated intentions and are not adopted regulations. Terminology recommendations issued by trade bodies do not alter legal disclosure requirements in any jurisdiction. This update is provided for general information and is not investment, appraisal, tax or legal advice.