January 2021 | Lab Grown Magazine

January 2021 | The Lab Grown Diamond Resource Book 16 To advertise call (888) 832-1109 | January 2021 17 Examples of LGD prices compared to those of mined diamonds from Mining.com in March, 2020. (Graph: Mining.com) Looking ahead… The LGD market forecast and growth rate expectations. (Data and graph: Paul Zimnisky) Billy Porter and Janelle Monáe perform at the Oscars adorned with a bevy of LGDs. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images) trade tensions, and the 15% tariff on Chinese jewelry that began in September 2019 con- tributed to the chaos—all this while China saw a sharp depreciation of the yuan, protests in Hong Kong, and a spike in tariff wars. As for India, the depreciation of the rupee and the bankruptcy of one of the nation’s largest jewelry retailers—Gitanjali—it sur- prisingly saw a mere 1% decline in the 2019 jewelry market. But that was 2019. To get a strong hold on what was, we should look at where we were trending overall in 2020. Early 2020 economic output surged by an annualized 33% in the third quarter of last year, following a record fall as a consequence of Covid.The sharp economic contraction in March was followed by a real gross domes- tic product (GDP) decrease in all fifty states. It fell to an annual rate of 31.4%, according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Eco- nomic Analysis. The LGD market effectively concentrated on risk factors and tried to minimize its in- vestment impacts by diversifying its holdings globally. While major players in the LGD sector fought with mined diamonds, small to medium start-ups sparked newfound compe- tition and leveled the playing field in many ways. Despite job losses and many independent businesses suffering to damaging depths, the U.S. financial system slowly churned on. Banks remained well-capitalized and many companies have been able to borrow at rela- tively easy terms. The economy has avoided the shutdown of large companies for financial reasons. If that remains the case, economic activity should pick up quickly in terms of months, not years. Thanks to a $25 billion bailout that many would agree should have been dispersed to consumers, large airlines remain solvent and ready to expand service when necessary. If that were not the case, re-creating airline ser- vices once the pandemic is more manageable could be considerably more expensive, time- consuming, and fly in the face of consumers and businesses. The news about multiple vaccines has en- abled us to lower the probability of a “long slog” pandemic scenario from 25% to only >> Visit our website www.diamspark.com to see a full list of our inventory. We supply 0.01 to 5.00 Carats certi ed and non-certi ed polished diamonds, manufactured in a world-class facility, equipped with the most advanced technology. Available in Matching Pairs, Parcels, Layouts and Loose White and Coloured Diamonds. Member of 54 West 47th Street, New York NY - 10036 Cell: +1 (718) 407 9009 | Phone: +1 (212) 221 4400 | Email: labgrown@diamspark.com An Epitome of Modern Luxury. Discover our extensive collection of high-quality Lab-grown Diamonds