The Hong Kong-headquartered diamond and gemstone laboratory EGL Asia is adding a new service to its products: reports or certificates for gem quality lab grown diamonds. EGL Asia's CEO, Joseph Kuzi, said that interest in and demand for these stones in the Asian market is rising, creating the need for proper identification reports for lab grown stones that are now regularly sold in Asia's jewellery retail and consumer markets. Kuzi noted that EGL Asia is already issuing these certificates for a - for now unnamed - supplier of lab grown diamonds. At the same time,Chow Tai Fook, the world's largest jewellery retailer, has been using EGL Asia's lab services for some time to ensure that all the small diamonds it uses are natural diamonds. "EGL Asia issues two types of reports for lab grown diamonds: a 'Lab Grown Diamond Certificate" and a 'Lab Grown Diamond Mini Certificate." Kuzi said. The new identification reports record a stone's 4C's, measurements and proportions, finish, symmetry, cut grade and fluorescence. "Naturally, the reports for lab grown stones look distinctively different from EGL's reports for natural diamonds. We have opted for a yellow banner at the top, a colour that has already become the international standard for these types of reports," Kuzi added.
Another reason for adding the lab grown certs to EGL Asia's services is the need to supply jewellery retailers and consumers with full and unambiguous information on the stones they are selling and purchasing. "Lab grown diamonds are fully legitimate gemstones that are slowly but surely conquering space in retailers' showcases. With these certs, we are not only responding to market demand, but also helping to assure that consumer confidence in jewellery, especially in the Asian luxury product market, which, while already huge, is still young and needs all the help it can get in consumer confidence building in the diamond, gem and jewellery market segment," EGL Asia's CEO stated.
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