The explosion of lab-grown stones from China has shaken up the sector, leaving established players struggling for relevance
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It takes the Earth more than a billion years to forge a diamond. Feng Canjun can grow one in the space of a week.
On a sweltering summer afternoon in Zhengzhou, capital of the central Chinese province of Henan, Feng’s Jiaruifu diamond factory hums with energy. Inside, 600 machines, each larger than an African elephant, simulate the crushing geological pressure and diabolical heat deep in the Earth’s surface, where diamonds grow. The machines can turn out three-carat diamonds, the size of a large engagement ring, in just seven days.
“We can mass-produce diamonds,” Feng says, proudly pointing to the rows of machines. He has another two factories working around the clock. “Currently, I produce about 100,000 carats a month,” he adds.
Over 70 per cent of the world’s lab-grown diamonds for jewellery — many destined for the ring fingers of newly engaged couples — originate in a Chinese factory, with Henan at the centre of the synthetic trade.
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