launch Lightbox is disruption
Creates uncertainty in the industry Says ABNAmro
According to the recently inked by Georgette Boele, Co-ordinator FX & Precious Metals Strategy- ABNAmro Bank says, ‘De Beers launch Lightbox: disruption!’ The Group Economics Financial Markets Research says, Gem-quality laboratory grown diamonds threaten the business case of miners, now even more so than before. This creates a lot of uncertainty in the diamond industry!
Now it is up to the other laboratory diamond producers to react and other companies in the business to re-think their strategies! Companies with exposure to both natural and laboratory grown diamond industries are least vulnerable in our view and the consumers are the winne!
The research, De Beers launch Lightbox: disruption inks, On 29 May De Beers launched a laboratory grown diamond jewellery brand, Lightbox Jewellery. This was a shock to the industry. In this publication we focus on the consequences.
For most diamond miners and producers gem-quality laboratory grown diamonds have been a threat for several reasons. For a start, undisclosed mixing of laboratory grown diamonds with natural diamonds had a serious impact on confidence in the industry.
However, since the introduction of the detection machines the fear of mixing laboratory grown diamonds with natural diamonds has eased. Moreover, the miners have not only been confronted with a substitution product but also the entrance of a large number of new market participants who threaten to end the oligopolic industry structure.
Furthermore, the marketing campaign of the miners to defend their turf has not been particularly successful up to now. In fact, there are signs that the laboratory grown diamond producers have the upper hand.
De Beers is known for being proactive, the industry's leader in many ways. First, it used the knowledge of its laboratory grown diamond production unit (Element 6) to build machines that can early detect laboratory grown diamonds in parcels of natural diamonds. Moreover its diamond grading service – International Institute of Diamond Grading & Research or IIDGR – has the knowledge to detect laboratory grown diamonds.
Second, it announced in January 2018 that it aims to launch the first industry-wide blockchain this year to track gems each time they change hands starting from the moment they are dug from the ground. And now De Beers directly takes on the laboratory grown diamonds’ challenge by its latest announcement to launch a laboratory grown diamond jewellery brand Lightbox.
