Belgium Warns of Damage From De Beers Supply Policy

The Federation of Belgian Diamond Bourses issued a warning on Thursday that De Beers’ Supplier of Choice policy will cause damage to the industry.

“There is a real fear in Antwerp for the disturbance the DTC will create with its new Supplier of Choice policy,” the federation said in a statement. “Dealers and manufacturers are very worried about the future outlook of the diamond market.”

The federation said that in “order to spread the distribution of rough diamonds to the widest possible circle of small and middle size manufacturers, which are the backbone of our industry, a multi channel supply through various independent traders is vital”.

The Belgian Federation said it will watch the market very closely this month and keep all parties informed of the situation.

In early December, the Belgian Federation expressed reserved optimism following the publication of a joint media release by the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the DTC regarding rough diamond supply.

A WFDB delegation met with the DTC on November 12 to express its concern about the supply of rough diamonds to a shrinking number of firms, harming small and medium size manufacturers. In the press release DTC expressed a willingness to consider supplying more rough through Diamdel – beyond the $500 million worth of diamonds per year it already committed too.