Lab-grown diamonds are losing their appeal due to oversupply and consumer preferences are starting to shift back to natural stones, World Diamond Council President Feriel Zerouki has said.

The natural diamond industry has seen a price slump since mid-2022 after peaking earlier that year, mainly due to the rising popularity of lab-grown gems especially among younger jewellery buyers.

But a collapse in lab-grown diamond prices on the back of increased production in China and India, has started to undermine confidence in the synthetic gems, Zerouki told Reuters in an interview at a mining conference in Luanda on Wednesday.

"If you look at the latest trends, lab-grown diamond prices are crashing. This is impacting consumer confidence in lab-growns," Zerouki said.

Diamond industry analyst E

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