New York: At a panel held during “The Current State of Diamond Market” on July 16 during the Initiatives in Art and Culture’s 14th annual Gold + Diamond Conference in New York City, most speakers agreed that the natural and lab-grown diamond sectors are hurting right now.

At the panel, which Rob Bates of JCK moderated, several IDMA board members shared their insights. Most of the text and quotes below were sourced from Rob’s article about the event.

“Business is quiet for both natural and lab-grown,” said Ronnie VanderLinden, president of Diamex and IDMA. Ronnie, whose company deals in both products, said: “There are struggles at the moment. Liquidity is not strong. The U.S. market is the strongest in the world right now. We hope that consumers will wake up by September and there will be better demand for both natural and lab-grown.”

He noted that Martin Rapaport recently lowered prices on his widely read list. “They came down for a reason,” he said. “Prices were dropping. They’re not dropping in all categories. They’re actually lifting in certain categories and staying stable in other categories.”

Matthew Schamroth, partner and CEO of M. Schamroth & Sons diamond company and Secretary-General of IDMA, has also seen a “softening” in the market but noted that certain items are scarce. “There’s less goods on the wheel today than there has been in a long time,” he said. “So there’s a shortage of diamonds in certain sizes and shapes, which is healthy given the current environment.”

Russell Kwiat, chief operating officer for retailer and wholesaler Kwiat, and Secretary of the Diamond Manufacturers & Importers Association of America (DMIA), an IDMA member, agreed that the diamond industry needs greater differentiation, which is what his company has focused on. “Differentiation and branding is not easy to do, but it’s a commitment that we made,” said Kwiat. “We doubled down in a declining environment. Too much of our business is generic and commoditized.”