What a Moissanite Ring Actually Costs to Make (Our Numbers, 2026)

Here is the number that surprises people: on a 1ct moissanite ring in 14k gold, the moissanite is about 10% of what the ring costs us to make. The gold is about 60%.

So when someone asks why moissanite ring prices went up this year, the honest answer has almost nothing to do with moissanite. It is gold, and it is tariffs. This page sets out our actual cost structure, the outside data behind the two things moving it, and what that means if you are buying.

Where the money goes on a 1ct 14k gold ring

Component	Share of cost
Metal (14k gold)	~60%
Shipping, handling, duties	~20%
Moissanite stone	~10%
Labor (CAD, casting, setting, QC)	~10%

These are approximate figures from our own workshop in Surat, for a 1ct round in 14k, as of August 2026. They are one manufacturer's structure rather than an industry average, and the split shifts with the piece: a heavier or wider band pushes metal higher, an intricate halo pushes labor higher, and a silver version changes the picture completely, which I will come back to.

Why the stone is the cheap part

Moissanite is lab-grown silicon carbide. Production is not constrained by mining, growing capacity has expanded steadily, and the wholesale cost of a 1ct stone is a small fraction of the finished ring. This is also why moissanite has almost no resale value: nothing scarce underpins it.

The practical consequence for buyers is counterintuitive. Going up in carat weight is comparatively cheap. Going up in metal is expensive. A customer choosing between a 1ct in 14k and a 2ct in 14k is making a much smaller financial decision than one choosing between 1ct in silver and 1ct in 18k.

Driver one: gold

Gold has had an extraordinary two years, and it flows straight through to anything with 60% of its cost in metal.

The World Gold Council reported that the LBMA (PM) gold price set a new quarterly average record of US$4,873/oz in Q1 2026, having hit a historical high of US$5,405/oz in January. By mid-June 2026 gold traded around US$4,350/oz, roughly 27% higher than a year earlier when it sat near US$3,415.

Applied to our cost structure, a 27% rise in gold on a component worth 60% of the ring adds roughly 16% to what the ring costs to make, before anything else changes.

The World Gold Council data also shows what this is doing to the wider market: in Q1 2026 jewelry demand fell 23% year on year by volume while spending rose 31%. People are buying less gold jewelry and paying more for it.

Driver two: tariffs

This one changed twice in 2026 and is worth setting out precisely, because most coverage of it is out of date.

Earlier in 2026, Indian jewelry exports to the US faced a 25% reciprocal tariff on top of the roughly 6% MFN duty, giving an effective rate near 31%. Before that it was higher still. Those figures come from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council via JCK.

From 24 July 2026, the US replaced the temporary Section 122 surcharge with a Section 301 regime following USTR investigations into forced-labor compliance across 60 economies. Indian gem and jewelry exports now carry a 10% additional duty, which on top of the existing 5.5% to 6% MFN duty gives an effective rate of roughly 15.5% to 16%, according to GJEPC.

Here is the part nobody outside the trade seems to have noticed. India was placed in the lower 10% band, while China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Türkiye, the UAE, Israel and Vietnam sit at 12.5%. That gives Indian manufacturing a 2.5 percentage point tariff advantage into the US market.

That matters for moissanite specifically, because most moissanite rough is cut in China. MarkWide Research reports that over 70% of synthetic moissanite rough production concentrates in Guangxi province. So a finished ring assembled in India from stones cut in China now enters the US on better terms than the same ring finished in China.

What this means if you are buying

Three practical conclusions.

Silver is where the savings live, and the gap is widening. Since metal is 60% of a gold ring's cost, gold rises hit gold rings hardest. A sterling silver version of the same design barely moves. Our 1ct engagement rings start around $150 in silver against roughly $650 in 14k, and gold's run has stretched rather than narrowed that gap.

Carat weight is the cheap upgrade. If you want more presence for the money, going up in stone size costs far less than going up in metal. A halo does the same job for less again, since small accent stones are cheaper per carat than one large center.

Do not wait for moissanite to get cheaper. The stone is already a small part of the price and its production cost has been falling for years. The metal is the volatile part, and nobody can tell you where gold goes next.

Method and limitations

The cost split is from our own production for a 1ct round in 14k as of August 2026, given as approximate percentages. We have not audited it to the rupee and we are not presenting it as an industry benchmark. Any manufacturer with a different product mix, metal weight or labor rate would produce a different split.

The gold figures are from the World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends Q1 2026 and from spot pricing reported in June 2026. The tariff figures are from the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, reported via JCK, Rapaport and Solitaire, covering the Section 301 regime effective 24 July 2026. The Guangxi production concentration figure is from MarkWide Research. We did not purchase any of these reports and have used their published summaries.

We will update this page quarterly. If the split changes materially we will say what changed and why rather than quietly editing the numbers.

Our interest, stated plainly

We sell moissanite jewelry, so publishing our own cost structure is not a neutral act. We are doing it because the most common question we get is why the prices are what they are, and because no one who actually manufactures seems willing to answer it. Read the figures as one manufacturer's disclosure rather than as independent research.

FAQs

How much of a moissanite ring's cost is the stone?

In our production, roughly 10% for a 1ct round in 14k gold. The metal is roughly 60%. The proportions shift with metal choice, band width and setting complexity.

Why did moissanite ring prices go up in 2026?

Mainly gold, which rose about 27% year on year to mid-2026, and US import tariffs on Indian jewelry, which stand at roughly 15.5% to 16% effective since 24 July 2026. The moissanite itself has not driven the increase.

What is the US tariff on Indian jewelry in 2026?

A 10% Section 301 additional duty plus the existing 5.5% to 6% MFN duty, so roughly 15.5% to 16% in total, effective 24 July 2026. Several competing countries including China sit at 12.5% plus MFN.

Is it cheaper to buy moissanite in silver or gold?

Substantially cheaper in silver, and the gap has widened as gold has risen. Silver tarnishes, which is normal and reversible with a polishing cloth, but a thin silver band is softer and less suited to heavy daily wear.

Will moissanite prices fall?

The stone's production cost has fallen steadily for years and there is no reason to expect that to reverse. The metal is the volatile component, and gold's direction is not something anyone can reliably predict.

Related reading

For what the finished pieces cost, see our rings under $1,000. For why the stone's low cost does not mean low quality, see what moissanite is actually worth, and for the wider data problem in this category, see our comparison of published moissanite market size estimates. To see what a stone costs on its own, our loose moissanite is priced individually.