The diamond trade in overview
The global diamond supply chain has five broad layers. Each layer adds value, takes a margin, and transforms the stone from one stage to another.
The first layer is mining: the extraction of rough diamonds from kimberlite pipes, alluvial deposits, and marine operations. The major producing countries are Botswana (approximately 20–25% of world production by value), Russia (approximately 25–30%), Canada (approximately 10–15%), and southern Africa broadly (South Africa, Namibia, Angola together approximately 20–25%). Sources: World Diamond Council, Kimberley Process statistics, Bain and Company Global Diamond Industry reports.
The second layer is rough diamond distribution: the sale of rough from producers to dealers and cutters. This is where the sight system (De Beers), ALROSA's sales mechanisms, and the independent rough market operate.
The third layer is cutting and polishing: transforming rough crystals into polished diamonds. Approximately 90 percent of the world's diamonds by number are cut and polished in India, primarily in Surat. Israel, Belgium, and New York handle a smaller volume of large, high-value stones.
The fourth layer is polished diamond trading: the sale of polished stones from cutters and dealers to jewellers and retailers worldwide. The diamond bourses are the primary venues for this activity. The Rapaport price list provides the pricing reference framework.
The fifth layer is retail: the sale of diamond jewellery to consumers. This is the layer most buyers interact with, but it is the furthest from where price is actually determined.
The five-layer diamond supply chain from mine to consumer. Each layer adds value and margin. India's cutting and polishing industry handles approximately 90% of the world's diamonds by number. The Rapaport price list is the pricing reference in the polished trading layer.
Major producers and market share
The global rough diamond mining industry is dominated by a small number of companies operating in a small number of countries. This concentration is a legacy of both geology (diamonds only occur where ancient cratons provide the right conditions) and business history (De Beers built a near-monopoly through the twentieth century that has since partially fragmented).
De Beers Group mines diamonds in Botswana (through Debswana, a 50/50 joint venture with the Government of Botswana), South Africa (through De Beers Consolidated Mines), Namibia (through Namdeb, also a 50/50 joint venture with the Government of Namibia), and Canada (through De Beers Canada). De Beers' market share by value was approximately 80 to 90 percent at its peak in the 1980s and 1990s; it has declined to approximately 30 to 35 percent in the mid-2020s as other producers have grown and De Beers' control of rough distribution has weakened.
ALROSA is a Russian state-controlled diamond mining company and the world's largest diamond producer by volume. It operates primarily in the Yakutia region of Siberia, where the major Russian kimberlite fields are located. ALROSA's market share by volume is approximately 25 to 30 percent of global rough diamond production. Following G7 sanctions imposed in 2022 and expanded in 2024 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, ALROSA faces significant restrictions on selling into Western markets. See the G7 Diamond Protocol guide for full details.
Rio Tinto operated the Argyle mine in Western Australia (closed in November 2020) and the Diavik mine in Canada (through a joint venture with Arctic Canadian Diamond Company). Following Argyle's closure, Rio Tinto's diamond production is limited to Diavik.
Other significant producers include Petra Diamonds (operating the Cullinan mine and Finsch mine in South Africa), Gem Diamonds (operating the Letšeng mine in Lesotho, known for producing large, high-quality stones), and Lucara Diamond (operating the Karowe mine in Botswana, which has produced several exceptional large diamonds including the 1,758-carat Sewelô rough in 2019).
How rough diamonds are distributed
Rough diamonds leave mines through several distribution channels, each with different mechanics and price discovery methods.
Producer direct sales are the primary channel for the largest producers. De Beers sells the majority of its rough through its Diamond Trading Company (DTC) sight system. ALROSA sells through long-term contracts with established customers and through spot tenders for parcels it wishes to sell on the open market.
Open market rough trading handles rough diamonds that do not go through producer direct channels: diamonds purchased by dealers at producer tenders, secondary market rough from companies selling parcels they have purchased and wish to resell, and rough from smaller producers who sell through brokers and dealers rather than maintaining their own sales operations.
Price indices such as WWW International Diamond Consultants (WWW IDC) and IDEX publish rough diamond price tracking data based on observed transactions. These indices are used by dealers to assess market conditions but are not as formalised a benchmark as the Rapaport system is for polished diamonds.
The De Beers sight system
The De Beers sight system is one of the most distinctive institutional arrangements in any commodity market and has been the subject of extensive academic, legal, and journalistic scrutiny since the mid-twentieth century.
De Beers selects a group of approved buyers, called sightholders, who are invited to attend ten "sights" (sales events) per year, typically held in Gaborone, Botswana, where the Diamond Trading Company is headquartered. At each sight, De Beers presents each sightholder with a sealed box of rough diamonds called a "sight box." The contents of the box are determined by De Beers based on its assessment of what the sightholder needs and can use. The price is set by De Beers and is not negotiable: the sightholder can accept the box or decline it, but cannot negotiate the contents or the price.
Sightholder status is valuable because it provides reliable access to a regular, known quantity of rough diamonds at known prices (even if those prices are determined unilaterally by De Beers). The application process to become a sightholder is rigorous: applicants must demonstrate financial stability, cutting and polishing capability, marketing capability for the resulting polished stones, and compliance with De Beers' Best Practice Principles (BPP), which include ethical sourcing, environmental compliance, and anti-corruption standards.
Approximately 80 sightholders existed as of the mid-2020s, down from over 100 in earlier decades as De Beers has consolidated to larger, more capable partners. Many of the largest Surat cutting houses are De Beers sightholders: Rosy Blue, Kiran Gems, Hari Krishna Exports, and others. Sightholder status is not publicly listed; companies do not typically advertise it, though the fact of their status is generally known in the trade.
The sight system gives De Beers control over inventory timing, prevents oversupply in the market during downturns, and builds long-term relationships with cutting centres. It gives sightholders predictable supply at stable prices. The system has been criticised as anti-competitive (and was the subject of US antitrust proceedings) but continues because both parties benefit: De Beers from controlled distribution, sightholders from reliable access. The take-it-or-leave-it price structure means sightholders absorb market risk that De Beers does not.
Diamond bourses: where trade happens
A diamond bourse is a regulated exchange where diamond dealers, cutters, and traders buy and sell diamonds among themselves. Bourses are physical buildings with trading floors, vault facilities, customs services, and member regulations. They are the primary venues for polished diamond trading globally.
The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) recognises 30 bourses worldwide. The major ones are:
The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) in Hoveniersstraat, Antwerp, Belgium: the world's most important rough diamond trading centre, handling approximately 80 to 85 percent of global rough diamond trade by value, according to AWDC published data. Antwerp's dominance in rough reflects its role as the primary verification point for the G7 Diamond Protocol requirements from January 2024.
The Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Mumbai: India's primary diamond bourse and one of the largest diamond trading complexes in the world by physical area. Nine towers, approximately 2.6 million square feet of trading and office space, customs facilities, bank services, and vaults. The BDB is the hub of India's polished diamond export trade.
The Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB): opened in December 2023 in Surat, it is the world's largest office building by floor area (approximately 6.7 million square feet) and serves as the trading and business hub for Surat's cutting and polishing industry.
The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) in Ramat Gan: handles the trading of large, high-value polished diamonds for which Israel's cutting industry has a comparative advantage. Israel specialises in large stones where the per-stone economics justify the higher labour costs of Israeli cutters.
The Diamond Dealers Club (DDC) on 47th Street in New York: the trading venue for the North American polished diamond market.
The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) in Dubai: a growing trading hub benefiting from Dubai's position as a regional financial centre and its connections to India's trading community.
India's role: the world's cutting factory
India cuts and polishes approximately 90 percent of the world's diamonds by number, according to the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). The industry is concentrated in Surat, with a workforce estimated at 700,000 to 800,000 cutters and polishers, the vast majority drawn from the Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat.
India's dominance in diamond cutting began in the 1960s when Palanpuri Jain merchants, who had established networks in Antwerp's rough trading community, began redirecting small rough diamonds to Surat for cutting rather than sending them to Antwerp or Israel. The economics were compelling: Surat could cut stones that were too small and labour-intensive to be economical in higher-wage cutting centres. By the 1980s and 1990s, Surat had developed the capability to cut stones across most size ranges and had captured the majority of global volume.
India's diamond imports and exports are substantial. India imports approximately 12 to 18 billion US dollars of rough diamonds per year (GJEPC data, varying by year and market conditions) and exports approximately 20 to 24 billion dollars of polished diamonds, reflecting the value added by the cutting and polishing industry. The US, Hong Kong, Belgium, and UAE are the primary export markets for Indian polished diamonds.
The rise of lab-grown diamond production in India is the most significant current disruption to this structure. Chinese CVD producers have driven down lab-grown diamond prices substantially since 2020, and Surat's industry has partially pivoted to lab-grown cutting to maintain volume as lab-grown demand has grown. The GJEPC has publicly advocated for differentiation between natural and lab-grown diamonds to protect the value positioning of natural stone cutting.
The polished diamond trade
Once a diamond has been cut and polished in Surat or another centre, it enters the polished diamond market. Polished diamonds are sold by Indian exporters to dealers in Antwerp, New York, Hong Kong, and Dubai, who in turn sell to jewellery manufacturers, brands, and retailers.
The polished diamond market is less concentrated than the rough market. There is no single entity controlling polished distribution the way De Beers historically controlled rough. Instead, price discovery happens through the Rapaport price list (see the separate Rapaport guide), bilateral negotiation, and trading on electronic platforms including Rapaport TradeWire and IDEX Online.
The Rapaport price list, published weekly by the Rapaport Group, provides a price grid for polished diamonds by shape (primarily round brilliant), colour, and clarity. Actual transaction prices are expressed as a percentage above or below the Rapaport list price ("Rap price"). A stone trading at "minus 30 to Rap" means the actual transaction price is 30 percent below the listed Rapaport price for that grade. Understanding Rapaport is covered in depth in the Rapaport Explained guide.
The retail layer: where most buyers enter
The retail layer is where consumers encounter the trade. A diamond ring in a store in Mumbai has a retail price that typically includes: the polished diamond's wholesale cost (itself based on the Rapaport framework with dealer margins), the gold or platinum setting, making charges, the retailer's overhead and profit margin, and GST. Each layer's margin has been added before the consumer sees a price.
Understanding this structure explains several phenomena that buyers encounter. First, why the same GIA-certified diamond can have dramatically different prices at different retailers: the diamond cost is roughly the same, but retailer margins vary from 20 to 100+ percent depending on the retailer's business model, overhead, and positioning. A high-street luxury brand with expensive retail space and heavy marketing adds much more to the diamond cost than a dealer in Zaveri Bazaar or BKC operating with minimal overhead. Second, why online diamond retailers can offer lower prices: they operate with lower overhead than physical stores. Third, why the immediate resale value of a new ring is typically 20 to 40 percent of retail: the retail price includes multiple layers of margin, and the secondary market prices at closer to dealer-to-dealer wholesale.
In the diamond trade, "trade price" refers to dealer-to-dealer pricing, typically expressed as a percentage of Rapaport. A consumer buying from a dealer in BKC or Zaveri Bazaar who is willing to negotiate is buying closer to trade price than someone buying from a branded retailer. The gap between trade price and retail price is the clearest indicator of how much of what you pay is diamond value versus service, overhead, and brand premium. Neither is wrong to pay, but knowing the difference makes you a more informed buyer.
Sources and data integrity note
Market share figures for De Beers, ALROSA, and other producers are approximate estimates based on Bain and Company Global Diamond Industry annual reports and World Diamond Council Kimberley Process statistics. These figures vary year to year and should be verified against current sources at debeersgroup.com, alrosa.ru, and bain.com/diamond-industry for current data.
India's cutting industry statistics (90% of world diamonds by number, workforce, import/export values) are from GJEPC published data (gjepc.org).
Antwerp rough trade share (80–85%) is from AWDC published data (awdc.be).
Sight system description is from De Beers Group published documentation and Smillie, I. (2014). Diamonds. Polity Press, Cambridge.
Frequently asked questions
How many people does it take to get a diamond from a mine to a ring?
Dozens to hundreds, depending on how you count. A rough diamond extracted in Botswana passes through mine workers, sorters, and security at the mine; De Beers DTC staff who sort and price the rough; a sightholder company's buyers in Gaborone; freight and customs handling; a rough dealer's team in Surat or Mumbai; planners, sawyers, bruters, polishers, and quality sorters in a Surat factory; export documentation and customs staff in India; import brokers and customs in the destination country; a polished diamond dealer; possibly a diamond exchange transaction; a jewellery manufacturer; a setter; a retailer's staff; and finally, a consumer. The diamond supply chain employs millions of people globally across these stages.
Why does India cut almost all of the world's diamonds?
The economics of diamond cutting strongly favour India for most stone sizes. Diamond cutting is extremely labour-intensive: polishing a single small diamond takes hours of skilled work. India's labour cost advantage, combined with the generational skill transfer in Surat's cutting community and the infrastructure built around the industry over 60 years, makes it economically uncompetitive for most cutting to happen anywhere else for stones under approximately 2 carats. Israel, Belgium, and New York handle a smaller volume of very large, high-value stones where the economics are less sensitive to labour cost and where the human judgement of experienced master cutters commands a premium that can offset higher wages.
Is it possible to buy a diamond directly from a wholesaler in India?
In principle yes, and many sophisticated buyers do exactly this. The Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) in BKC, Mumbai, and dealers in Zaveri Bazaar serve professional and semi-professional buyers. A consumer who is willing to do the work of understanding diamond quality, verifying certificates, and comparing stones can buy from dealer-level contacts at prices considerably closer to trade cost than retail. The requirements are: the knowledge to evaluate a stone correctly (GIA certificate verification, proportion checking, visual assessment), the willingness to navigate a commercial rather than consumer-oriented environment, and enough budget to make the transaction worthwhile for a wholesale dealer (typically above ₹2 lakh for a dealer to spend meaningful time with a consumer buyer).
How has the G7 Diamond Protocol changed the trade?
The G7 Diamond Protocol, implemented in stages from March 2022 through September 2024, prohibits the import of Russian-origin diamonds into G7 countries (US, EU, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Italy). From January 2024, rough diamonds above 1 carat must be verified at an Antwerp checkpoint to confirm non-Russian origin before entering the EU. This has created a complex traceability requirement in the supply chain, increased documentation and compliance costs, and disrupted established Russian diamond flows that previously moved through Antwerp, Dubai, and India. India, as a major processor of Russian rough, has been considerably affected. See the G7 Diamond Protocol guide for full details.
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