De Beers says laboratory-grown diamond wholesale prices fall by up to 60%

Wholesale prices for laboratory-grown diamonds have fallen by up to 60% since De Beers began selling synthetic stones for jewellery in September, CEO Bruce Cleaver said on Thursday, adding margins for the sector would continue to fall. De Beers, part of mining group Anglo American, shocked the diamond industry last year when it announced it was reversing a decades-old policy of selling natural diamonds only for jewellery and synthetic stones for industrial uses.