UrBC, Moscow, December 16, 2015. Russia’s diamond jewellery market declined by 40% in ruble terms and by three times in dollar terms (down to $1bn) this year, Vedomosti refers to Bain & Co as reporting.

The company says this decrease in sales has to do with the current economic situation, people’s shrinking incomes, and, consequently, more competition with less expensive precious stones, designer jewellery not made of precious materials, and silver items.

According to the company’s experts, the Russian market has always tended to focus on less expensive items, but this trend has grown much more pronounced in the last two years. On average, people spend 15,000 to 30,000 RUR per piece on average, which is not enough for large diamonds and means stores are offering increasingly more other products in their range.

‘Both the supply of and demand for diamond pieces has gone down by around 35% and 50% respectively, with the mid-priced segment suffering the most,’ says Mikhail Trachtenberg, Moscow Jewellery Plant’s Director-General.

The market players report in the meantime that the demand is down not just for the diamonds: customers on the whole are choosing less pricy items such as jewellery without any precious stones or silver things. The average amount people spend per visit has gone down from 7,000 to 5,000 RUR.