Jewelry: diamonds are getting cheaper, but craft precision holds the price

The accessories market is being dealt two separate hands: raw material and craft. The outlet Jiemian reports that the DIAMINDX index fell to 2 490 dollars on 10 August 2026, the lowest reading since measurement began. It lost 8 percent in ten days, and about half its value since its 2022 peak. In the wholesale jewelry district of Shenzhen Shuibei, prices dropped by 40-60 percent. Producer De Beers sold 12.4 million carats of rough in the first half of 2026, 13 percent more than a year earlier, but at an average price of 105 dollars per carat, 32 percent lower. Revenue fell 23.5 percent, to 1.3 billion dollars, and inventories exceeded 2 billion dollars.

Customers move to gold and brands

This does not mean the market is finished. It means a reshuffle. Chinese demand for gold jewelry fell in the first half of 2026 by about 30 percent (World Gold Council data), while the watches and jewelry segment of the LVMH group grew organically by 9 percent. LVMH itself is having a weaker spell. Revenue in the first half of 2026 came to 38.6 billion euros, 3 percent less on a reported basis, even as organic growth reached 2 percent. Operating profit in the fashion and leather goods division rose organically by 1 percent in the second quarter, the first quarterly increase in two years. The value of that division fell from 42.17 billion euros in 2023 to 37.77 billion in 2025.

Tolerance of a hundredth of a millimeter

On the other side of the market, the hand is what counts. In the goldsmithing competition at the 48th WorldSkills in Shanghai, participants get three days and 18 hours to make a piece. The permitted tolerance is 1 percent, or one hundredth of a millimeter, and crossing that threshold means losing points. One of the participants was Qiu Shubin, from a technical school in Shenzhen that trains staff for the jewelry group Chow Tai Fook. This shows where value is moving. When the raw material gets cheaper, the margin escapes into precision of execution and brand, because those are harder to fake than a stone.

Accessories as a margin carrier

For the fashion industry as a whole the conclusions are practical. In the clothing segment, where prices rise more slowly than costs, accessories such as handbags, belts, glasses and jewelry remain the categories with the highest margin. Their fate depends on two variables at once: the price of the raw material, which today works in buyers' favor, and the skill of execution, which cannot be generated by a model.