The diamond cutting process is obviously one of the most important steps to create a polished and glittering diamond from a rough diamond one. There are various centers across the world known for their diamond cutting. Here are the best centers.

Antwerp is probably the world’s oldest cutting center and it was a key center for the European gem trade in the middle ages. It is very well known for its cutting of large diamond rough and a very important center in this industry today. About 80 percent of the world’s diamonds pass through this center.

Russia started its diamond cutting industry in a small manner. Small workshops were set up where the cutting work was completed. However, the discovery of the rich diamond deposits in Siberia turned the course of diamond cutting industry in Russia in 1955. The Russian cut diamonds soon began to be known for their precision and finesse.

Another center that emerged post the World War II was Tel Aviv. While the country produced small cut diamonds initially, they soon became the top producers of large diamonds and fancy, unique cuts. Tel Aviv is probably the most technologically advanced diamond cutting center as of now and exports around $4 billion worth of polished fancy cut diamonds. Most of these diamonds coming out of Israel are actually absorbed by the US market.

The diamond cutting industry in India prospered more when the Argyle diamond mines were found in Western Australia. These mines produced large amounts of small sized roughs that were suited to be cut as small diamonds. An expensive diamond cutting center would not at all be feasible for such work since the high labour cost would ultimately get passed on to the cost of making small diamonds and thus making them unaffordable and heavily priced. Therefore, India was a natural choice due to its cheap labor and large workforce. The main places where diamond cutting takes place in India are Maharashtra and Gujrat.

New York is known for its special cuts, especially for large diamonds. The beauty of the diamond cuts and the size almost equals that of Tel Aviv and Antwerp. Since the labor costs are high in New York, the cutting center confines its operations to large high quality extraordinary diamonds, some of which adorn the fingers, wrists, necks and ears of the wealthiest diamond lovers in the world.

Canada with its new discoverd mines, is the most recent entrant in to this area. This has happened due to the discovery of Ekati diamond mines that are under development in the northern tundra. The government would like the locals to benefit from this find and therefore a certain amount of stock of roughs is being sold to the local diamond cutters.

Above is a representation for the most popular diamond cutting centers in the world. Although each cutting center is known for its specialty, they generally have the same point that as diamond mines were discovered and developed and made professional, specific diamond cutting centers were identified based on their proximity, labor cost, specific expertise and skill.

Tags : Diamond Cutting, Diamond Cutting Centers, Diamond Cutting Industry