“Russian diamonds are not forever,” European Council President Charles Michel said on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on Friday.
On Friday, the United Kingdom also announced it would ban imports of Moscow’s diamonds later this year, as well as all imports of copper, aluminum and nickel of Russian origin. A ban on Russian diamonds could inflate prices for European consumers, especially if diamond production elsewhere doesn’t ramp up.
It’s possible that synthetically made diamonds could also help fill the gap in the jewelry market left by Moscow’s exports, Zimnisky said, though a glut of cheaper, lab-grown diamonds are unlikely to compete with their natural alternatives. Those will always be a “luxury product,” Zimnisky said.“We are so against sanctions,” Neys of the AWDC said, adding that traders would simply move their business out of Antwerp in response.
Some of the world’s major jewelery makers, including Pandora — the world’s biggest — have already shunned Moscow’s diamonds voluntarily following the invasion.