A supplier quotes you USD 6 per carat for a 1-carat D-F VVS moissanite round. The next supplier quotes USD 18 for what looks like the same stone. Neither is lying — the price is moving on five factors that most first-time buyers have not been shown. Understanding how the sheet is built keeps you from paying cutting-house prices for a re-stamped trader's bag, and from buying cloudy inventory at a price you cannot resell.

The supply chain that sets the price

Moissanite rough is grown in a small number of crystal-growth houses. Those houses sell rough to cutting and polishing factories, who facet, clean, laser-inscribe the girdle and issue reports. Wholesale buyers deal almost entirely with the cutting tier. Prices therefore reflect: growth-house capacity, the cutting factory's yield and polish standard, the grade band, the shape, and the certificate load. Unlike natural diamond, there is no single benchmark — pricing is factory-to-factory and moves with rough supply and plating-line demand. For the lab paperwork behind each stone, start from GRA vs IGI vs GIA.

Realistic 2026 wholesale bands, by carat

These are indicative FOB cutting-factory bands for D-E-F VVS-VS excellent-round stones with a standard GRA report, in 2026:

0.50 ct equivalent (5.0 mm): USD 4-8 per piece.
1.0 ct equivalent (6.5 mm): USD 8-15 per piece.
2.0 ct equivalent (8.0 mm): USD 22-40 per piece.
3.0 ct equivalent (9.0 mm): USD 45-80 per piece.
5.0 ct equivalent (11.0 mm): USD 120-220 per piece.

Prices outside this band — especially 30% below the floor — usually mean one of: G-H colour or SI clarity material passed off as D-F, mixed-origin stones, or re-stamped reports. Compare against GIA 4Cs grading language so the grade letters on your sheet mean the same thing they mean to your retail customer.

The four premiums that move the per-carat number

Shape. Rounds are cheapest. Ovals, cushions, emerald cuts and hearts carry a 15-40% yield penalty because more rough is lost per carat finished. Grade step. Moving from G-H VS to D-E-F VVS adds 10-20%; moving from VS to VVS adds another 5-10%. Certificate upgrade. IGI third-party grading adds USD 25-60 per stone at factory level — see the certificate comparison in which paper matters. Consistency across a lot. Buying 500 stones all matched to a single colour band costs more than mixing whatever is on the shelf; matched lots are what a tennis bracelet line needs (see tennis bracelet stone count and karat).

How to read a supplier price sheet

A real sheet lists carat size, colour, clarity, shape, price per piece, MOQ and lead time. If the quote is a single "moissanite, USD per carat" line with no colour or clarity split, you are being sold average inventory — some stones will be bright, some will be grey. Ask for a graded sheet and for a 3-stone sample pack at 1, 2 and 3 carats. Run the sample through the verification steps in how to confirm a supplier is a real factory. Once you trust the source, build your retail price with the landed-cost method in the wholesale-to-retail margin formula; moissanite's low unit cost makes margin math more forgiving than gold, but only if you do not overpay on the per-carat sheet.

Where 2026 pricing is actually moving

Rough growth capacity has been expanding, which has pushed 1-2 carat round prices down roughly 10-15% year-on-year since 2024. The pressure has not come off matched-lot stones for tennis bracelets and eternity bands, where colour consistency across 20-50 stones is the hard part. Specialty shapes (oval, pear, cushion) have held price because yield losses have not been offset by rough supply. And IGI-graded lab-grown diamond material — a different product — continues to trade separately from moissanite; do not let a supplier quote you lab-diamond pricing and then deliver moissanite. That is both a spec error and a disclosure problem under FTC 16 CFR Part 23.

FAQ

Why are two 1-carat quotes so far apart?

Different colour/clarity bands, different cutting houses, different certificate loads, or a trader re-selling mixed lots. Insist on a graded sheet and a 3-stone sample before comparing numbers.

Is the per-carat price the same as per-piece price?

No. Wholesale moissanite is usually quoted per finished piece (by mm size), not per carat-equivalent. "Per carat" in marketing is a retail comparison device; on the PO, buy per piece with the mm size written down.

When does IGI paper pay back?

At retail price points above roughly USD 400 per stone, or when your channel (bridal, fine-jewellery buyers) explicitly names IGI. Below that, the USD 25-60 per stone upgrade rarely returns in margin.

Do prices move with gold or silver?

Very little. Moissanite pricing is driven by crystal-growth capacity and cutting yield, not by precious-metal spot prices. The setting you put it in moves with gold and silver; the stone does not.

HOLYCOME issues a graded monthly moissanite sheet: mm size, colour, clarity, shape, per-piece price, MOQ and lead time, with a 3-stone sample pack available. Ask for the current sheet and sample pack.