Six Diamond Market Moves Every Jewellery Brand Should Make Before Wedding Season

Rapaport's latest market comment reports that rough diamond production dropped 8% in 2025, to 99 million carats. Over the same year, the average price per carat rose 6%, to $93.

So fewer diamonds came out of the ground. And the ones that did cost more.

There is a second signal underneath that one. Prices for small round diamonds (0.30 to 0.49 ct.) are climbing again after dealers sold down their stock. The RapNet Diamond Index for 0.30 ct. stones rose 4.2% in June alone. Bigger stones are holding steady, but they are hard to find. Three-carat diamonds in long, fancy shapes are now genuinely tricky to source in the US.

If you run a jewellery brand, this is the calm before your costs move.

What Is Happening in the Diamond Market Right Now

Here is the July 2026 picture in plain terms:

• Small rounds (0.30–0.49 ct.) are recovering. Dealers ran low, so prices are rising again. June: +4.2% for 0.30 ct.

• Mid-sizes (0.50–1.20 ct.) are mixed. The 0.50 ct. rose 1.3% in June. The 1 ct. slipped 0.7%.

• Large stones (2 ct. and up) are steady but scarce. Some categories are in real short supply. The 3 ct. rose 0.4%.

• Long, fancy shapes beat round stones at 2 ct. and above. Long cushions sell for 20–25% more than square ones. The marquise is currently the priciest fancy shape.

• The big miners are managing supply. De Beers is expected to lower rough prices or widen discounts at its July sale. Alrosa has paused its Severalmaz mines for three months. Both moves keep supply tight.

• Gold is still selling despite record prices. Hong Kong jeweller Luk Fook reported yearly sales up 29% to $2.2 billion, with profit up 89%, mostly on gold.

One thing ties this together. The price recovery is driven by supply, not by a surge in buyers. Rapaport's country notes are clear: in Israel, low production is pushing prices up, with demand playing a smaller part. Prices are rising because there is less to sell. A shortage feels different from a boom, and it needs a different plan.

Why a Supply-Driven Recovery Is a Problem for Small Brands

Picture how this plays out at your bench. You design a collection in the spring. You quote a client in May, using the stone prices you can see that month. You place the order in August. By then, the small rounds in your halo setting cost more. Your setter says the long oval you promised a bridal client is six weeks out. And the gold in the band costs more than it did last year.

None of this arrives as breaking news. It arrives as three problems you can measure:

1. Your margin gets squeezed on quotes you already gave. If you priced a commission before June and buy the stones now, the small-round rise comes straight out of your profit.

2. Popular shapes are late. Ovals, marquises and long cushions are what clients ask for. They are also what the trade says is short. Well-cut ones cost a premium. Badly cut ones are cheap for a reason — they are hard to resell.

3. A gap opens between your photos and your stock. If your website still leads with round and princess cuts, your content is selling last year's inventory.

Buyers have moved, too. Recent reporting from New York's 47th Street diamond district — a good read on Western retail — found that oval, marquise and old mine cuts are the most requested engagement-ring shapes. Sapphires, emeralds and rubies are drawing the strongest interest among coloured stones.

The same reporting shows how far lab-grown has taken over bridal. One 47th Street seller told Rapaport that about 70% of the engagement rings they sell are lab-grown.

Another put the split at roughly 60/40 in favour of lab. Natural-diamond buyers now cluster at 2 carats and up. Lab-grown buyers tend to pick 3 to 5 carats for the same spend. Small natural stones are the weak spot. Large natural stones are still strong.

What Jewellery Brand Owners Should Do: Six Practical Moves

1. Requote Anything You Priced Before June

Any open commission or made-to-order piece quoted on spring prices needs a fresh look. That goes double if it uses small rounds or a long fancy shape. Add one line to future quotes: stone prices held for 30 days. The market now moves month to month, and that line protects you.

2. Decide Your Lab-Grown vs. Natural Position, and Write It Down

With 60–70% of engagement rings on 47th Street selling as lab-grown, "we do both, whatever you want" is not a real answer any more. Pick a lane. You might go natural-only, with provenance as the story. You might go lab-led, with size and value as the story. Or you might offer both, with a clear rule for when you recommend which. Then teach your team the answer, because clients ask in the first five minutes.

3. Shift Your Range Toward Long and Antique Cuts

Ovals, marquises, old mine cuts, long radiants and long cushions — the trade data and the shop floor agree on these. Princess cuts are the least requested shape right now. If your bestsellers use square stones, make long versions now, before the wedding-season rush. One warning from the trade: the proportions have to be right, because badly cut fancies do not resell.

4. Use Sapphires and Emeralds Where Big Diamonds Have Got Impractical

Sellers report sapphires and emeralds leading among coloured stones, partly because good rubies have become very pricey. Some clients now pick a coloured stone instead of a diamond for the engagement ring. For a small brand, a sapphire or emerald centre stone does two jobs. It steps around the large-diamond shortage. And it gives your collection a look a round diamond cannot.

5. Rebuild Your Gold Range Around Fewer, Heavier Pieces

The 47th Street pattern is clear. People buying substantial gold are still buying. Small, light gold items have dropped off. Clients increasingly treat chunky gold as jewellery and investment at once. So trim the thin chains and small charms, and give your heavier designs the photos and page space they now deserve.

6. Update Your Photos to Match What You Can Actually Sell

Most brands miss this one. Your product photos are a promise about what you have. Say the market has moved to long cuts, coloured centres and heavier gold — but your homepage, ads and feed still show last year's round solitaires. Now you are pulling in enquiries you cannot fill at a profit. And you are missing the searches you could win.

A specialist partner helps here. Chocianaite is a jewellery photography and creative agency working with independent brands across the UK, EU and US. It builds campaign and product imagery around exactly this kind of shift: new hero shots for long and antique cuts, gemstone-led bridal stories, and a content plan that links what is selling to what shows up on your site and socials. The result is simple — your visual catalogue matches the stock you can source at a margin you can defend, and it gets there before your competitors update theirs. For a collection-level review, start with a message via the contact page.

The July 2026 market rewards brands that get specific. Small rounds are recovering. Large long stones are scarce. Lab-grown owns bridal volume. Coloured stones are gaining. Gold buyers have moved upmarket. Each of those is a decision sitting in your pricing, your stock and your photos. Treat it as a checklist, not background noise, and you will be the brand quoting with confidence when the wedding-season enquiries land.