During the Great Depression, /De Beers invented a clever marketing wheeze:/ it persuaded fiancées that unless their husband-to-be spent a month’s salary on a diamond engagement ring, /he was a cold-hearted miser. (Later, that was upped to two months’ salary.)
Demand for diamonds has grown steadily since.
But recently the industry, gathering today at the World Diamond Council annual meeting in Mumbai, has been in less than sparkling spirits.
Bain & Company, a consultancy, reckons that rough-diamond sales fell from $15bn in 2016 to $14bn in 2017.
Producers’ profits have disappeared as supplies have increased.
Bain reckons an extra 26m carats a year will be mined over the next decade.
Retailers are under pressure, too.
The trade in blood diamonds has tainted the gems’ image.
And laboratory-grown diamonds—now almost indistinguishable from mined ones—are gaining market share.
Should America, which accounts for almost half of diamond-jewelry sales, stutter, the industry could find itself between a rock and hard place.
- wheeze n.花招；计谋(a clever trick or plan)
- husband-to-be 准丈夫；未婚夫；未来的老公
- miser 小气鬼；铁公鸡；财迷
- stutter 说话结巴，吞吞吐吐；进展不顺利
- between a rock and hard place 处于两难境地
- taint one's image 损害……的形象
- rough diamond 钻坯；原石；还可以指人外粗内秀
synthetic diamond 人造钻石
pink diamond 粉钻石 - gain market share 获取市场份额
jewelry常见于美式英语，jewellery多见于英式（澳式），加拿大这两种情况都用。
