Vashi Dominguez, the founder of the firm Diamond Manufacturers, believes prices are now being driven by the choices that women make.
When men choose gemstones for their partners, they often go for diamonds, he says. But when they do the choosing themselves, many women prefer at least one coloured gemstone in a piece of jewellery - a ruby, a sapphire, or an emerald.
They have also received encouragement from celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Penelope Cruz, who can afford diamonds aplenty, but who often choose to wear sapphires and emeralds instead.
Not to mention the Duchess of Cambridge, with the engagement ring she inherited from Princess Diana.
Demand for coloured stones has increased threefold since 2010, according to Diamond Manufacturers' Mr Dominguez.
As a result, the company is selling fewer diamonds.
"It's because women are driving the market," he says, "even in China."
If men choose jewellery, he says, they tend to buy a ring with a single diamond in it, otherwise known as a solitaire.
"Buying jewellery is normally a very daunting experience for a man," he says.
"Often they don't even know the ring size, while women really know what they want. Some women even say, 'Can you change the diamonds to sapphires?'"
The market price of coloured stones appears to reflect their growing popularity around the globe.
Gemval, which claims to offer the world's first online valuation tool for gemstones, reckons that the price of sapphires rose by 37% between January 2006 and January 2013.
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