Colored Gemstone Statistics 2026: 50+ Sourced Numbers

Updated 1 October 2026. Cite as: Joalys (2026), Colored Gemstone Statistics 2026, joalys-paris.com/en/guides/colored-gemstone-statistics.

• World exports of colored gemstones (HS 7103) were $11.64 billion in 2024, down from $12.98 billion in 2023 (GJEPC, 2024).
• Three hubs lead by value: the United States 27.5%, Thailand 17.9% and Hong Kong 17.8% of world colored-stone exports (GJEPC, 2024).
• The United States imported $20 billion of gemstones in 2024, 19% less than in 2023 (USGS, 2025).
• Sri Lanka exported $190.5 million of gems in 2023, and sapphire in all colours made up about 77% of the value (NGJA, 2023; share calculated).
• A Sri Lankan blue sapphire left the country at an average declared value of $165 per carat in 2023 (calculated from NGJA, 2023).
• Thailand's imports of rough colored stones rose 66% in 2025, to $0.19 billion (GIT, 2026).
• GIA estimates that at least 95% of blue sapphires are treated in some way (GIA Colored Stones course, chapter 13, course material with no public page).
• Gemfields has sold $1.22 billion of Mozambican rough ruby over 28 auctions since June 2014 (Gemfields annual report, 2025).
• Record ruby: $34.8 million for the 55.22-carat Estrela de Fura (Sotheby's, 2023).
• Record sapphire per carat: $273,021, paid for the 35.09-carat Regent Kashmir (Christie's, May 2025).
• A GIA identification and origin report costs $90 for a stone under 2 carats; the same report at SSEF is CHF 750 (GIA and SSEF fee schedules, 2026).
• Cut rubies, sapphires and emeralds enter the United States and the United Kingdom at 0% import duty (USGS, 2025; UK Trade Tariff, 2026).
• Joalys, 1 October 2026: plain blue sapphires flagged no-heat list at a median $563 per carat, against $354 for heated ones, 59% more (12 and 13 stones; Joalys inventory data).
• Joalys, 1 October 2026: 34% of the 148 listed sapphires with a declared heat status are flagged no-heat (Joalys inventory data).

Colored-stone exports fell 10% in 2024, and were $12.37 billion in 2022 (calculated from GJEPC, HS 7103). Customs value records where a stone is declared on export, not where it was mined. Switzerland follows the top three with 7.5%, then India (4.0%), Singapore (2.7%) and Germany (2.3%).

India's own colored-stone exports were $0.46 billion in 2024, $0.52 billion in 2023 and $0.63 billion in 2022 (GJEPC, 2022 to 2024).

Diamonds were 82% of the value of US gem imports in 2024, which leaves about $3.6 billion for every other gem combined (USGS, 2025; the dollar figure is calculated here). Net import reliance is 99% of US apparent consumption, and its exports fell from $3.61 billion in 2023 to $2.0 billion in 2024.

Lab-created stones are a small US industry: eight producers, $87.1 million of output in 2022, $69.0 million in 2023 and $63 million in 2024, against $10 million of natural gemstone production. World natural diamond mine output was 72 million carats in 2024, 21 million of them from Russia (USGS, 2025).

Sri Lanka shipped 5.13 million carats of gems worth Rs 64.4 billion in 2023, 39% above the 2017 dollar value, per the National Gem and Jewellery Authority (NGJA). Its earlier country tables give $137.0 million in 2017 (NGJA), $133.9 million in 2018 (NGJA), $103.7 million in 2019 (NGJA), $67.6 million in 2020 (NGJA), $107.5 million in 2021 (NGJA) and $191.6 million in 2022 (NGJA, whose annual table prints $205.0 million). The first four months of 2024 brought $49.0 million (NGJA); no full-year 2024 file was published as of 1 October 2026.

Carats moved the other way: 9.32 million in 2017 against 5.13 million in 2023, so declared value per carat rose from about $15 to about $37 (calculated). The 2023 value by variety:

Ruby averaged $210 per declared carat (calculated). The United States took 24.2% of 2023 value ($46.2 million), Thailand 18.5%, China 11.6%, Hong Kong 10.5% and India 7.4% (calculated). Average declared value was about $120 per carat to the United States and $40 to Thailand (calculated).

NGJA issued 5,322 gemming licences and 7,193 dealer licences in 2022 (NGJA annual report 2022, p.6). On a customs basis, Sri Lanka Export Development Board counts $108.3 million of gem exports in 2024, down 27% from $148.2 million (EDB, p.17), and about 300 exporters (EDB, 2024).

Thailand exported $2.13 billion of colored stones in 2025, up 1.85% (Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand). Polished ruby, sapphire and emerald were $1.50 billion of it, up 8.5%; polished semi-precious stones fell 13% to $0.50 billion; rough was $0.13 billion. Imports of colored stones were $1.29 billion.

All gem and jewellery exports reached $26.6 billion in 2025, up 44.8%, or $13.6 billion without unwrought gold, 7.8% of Thailand's gross exports and its third-largest category (GIT, February 2026).

It depends on the grade offered. Gemfields' 2025 ruby auctions averaged $39.47, $461.48 and $59.43 per carat (Gemfields annual report 2025). Its February 2026 auction made $53.0 million at $279 per carat with 90% of 135 lots sold, and the June 2026 Trade Select auction $23.1 million at $66.30 per carat, 82 of 89 lots sold (Gemfields, 348,409 of 374,008 carats). The ruby operation took $49.9 million in 2025, against $117.2 million in 2024, and pays royalties and production taxes of 10% of auction revenue.

Its Zambian emerald mine, Kagem, has held 53 auctions for $1.15 billion since July 2009 and took $78.4 million in 2025. A higher-quality auction averaged $160.21 per carat in September 2025, while commercial grades made $6.87 and $7.43 per carat, a spread of more than 20-fold within one year. Emerald pays 6%. Kagem employed 1,262 people at year end, 92% Zambian, and offered an 11,685-carat crystal, the largest found at the mine. Zambia imposed a 15% emerald export duty on 1 January 2025 and revoked it in February (Gemfields, 2025).

GIA's course puts the treated share of blue sapphires at 95% or more (see Key takeaways); heating is by far the most common treatment, at roughly 450°C to 1,900°C for under an hour to 14 days (GIA Colored Stones course, chapter 13). Garnet and spinel, by contrast, are rarely treated (GIA course, chapter 24). Ruby and sapphire both score 9 on the Mohs scale, and no natural gemstone other than diamond can scratch them (GIA Colored Stone Essentials course).

The stones Joalys lists are a different population, sourced through partners in Sri Lanka: of 149 priced sapphires on 1 October 2026, 97 are heated, 51 are flagged no-heat and one has no declared status. Joalys does not claim this mirrors the market.

Across 201 priced stones listed on joalys-paris.com on 1 October 2026, the median asking price is $616 per carat for sapphire (149 stones), $843 for ruby (6) and $244 for spinel (25). Listed prices include international shipping and a laboratory report, so they sit above bare loose-stone prices (Joalys inventory data).

No-heat sapphires list at a median $687 per carat, 12% above heated ones, but colour drives the gap: all 25 stones sold as plain royal blue are heated, so the all-colour figure understates the blue-only premium given in the Key takeaways. The median stone weighs 1.45 carats; 61% weigh 1 to 2 carats and 21% weigh 3 carats or more. Oval mixed cuts are 37% of the listing, cushions 29% and rounds 8%.

Our sapphires are in the sapphire collection; how price moves with colour and size is in the sapphire price per carat guide.

Single stones set them, and the ruby and sapphire records are in the Key takeaways. The 25.59-carat Sunrise Ruby made $30.3 million at Sotheby's Geneva in May 2015 (Sotheby's). The 392.52-carat Blue Belle of Asia set the auction record for any sapphire on 11 November 2014, at CHF 16,965,000 or $17,295,796 (Christie's). The Regent Kashmir fetched HK$74,675,000, or $9,580,302, in Hong Kong.

It beat $242,145 per carat, paid in October 2015 for the 27.68-carat Jewel of Kashmir (Sotheby's). A 9.23-carat Kashmir sapphire estimated at $475,000 to $775,000 made $1,244,075 in July 2020 (Bonhams). The Hope Spinel, 50.13 carats, sold for £962,500 on 24 September 2015, $30,000 per carat against a previous record of $16,000 (Bonhams). The Estrela de Fura works out at about $630,000 per carat (calculated).

A GIA identification report costs $75 under 2 carats, $90 from 2 to 3.99 carats and $184 from 10 to 19.99 carats; adding origin makes it $120 and $394 for the last two bands (GIA fee schedule, effective 1 July 2026). SSEF charges CHF 375 under 2 carats and CHF 500 from 2 to 4.99 carats, with origin at CHF 1,000 for the second band, excluding VAT, in two weeks (SSEF, read 1 October 2026).

Other worked non-diamond gemstones (HTS 7103.99.50) carry 10.5% duty into the United States, and unworked synthetic gemstones 3% (USGS, tariff table of 31 December 2024).

Sources. Every figure comes from the body that produced it: a government agency, a listed company's annual report, an auction house's own release, a laboratory fee page, the GIA course, or the Joalys database. Market-research estimates with undisclosed methods are excluded. "Calculated" means arithmetic on two published figures, stated as such.

Joalys inventory data means the 201 stones with a price and a "direct" listing status on joalys-paris.com on 1 October 2026: 149 sapphires, 25 spinels, 6 rubies and 21 other stones. Price per carat is the asking price divided by weight; medians are used, with counts. No purchase price or margin is published.

Verification. Each figure was read on the cited page or PDF on 1 October 2026; figures that cannot be found at their source are removed at the next update. I am Ilyes Makria, founder of Joalys: I source colored stones in Sri Lanka and I am not a gemologist, so every gemological statement cites the GIA course.

For a stone made to your brief, see bespoke.

1 October 2026: every figure re-read at its source; inventory figures rebuilt on the 201 stones listed for sale. 20 September 2026: first draft.