Following is the DTC public announcement following today's notification to Sightholder applicants.

 

DTC Completes Supplier Of Choice Sightholder Assessment

 

11 New Applicants to become Sightholders

 

The Diamond Trading Company (DTC), the sales and marketing arm of The De Beers Group of Companies, today confirmed the outcome of the application process for the 2005-2008 Supplier of Choice contract period.  The company stated that it was delighted to announce that 11 new applicants will become Sightholders and that all existing Sightholder Groups will receive supply contracts for the period starting 7 July 2005.  The DTC has advised all applicants of their Sightholder status.

 

All the new Sightholders have met the rigorous and objective criteria required under Supplier of Choice (SoC).  A critical element of this relates to the customer’s ability to add value and to help grow consumer demand.  Globally, diamond jewellery has been competing fiercely with other luxury goods.  Sightholders will play a vital role in driving the consumer market forward.

 

DTC today also confirmed that the success of SoC in creating more value, together with supply chain efficiencies, had resulted in a gradual increase in production, in carat terms, during the last contract period, placing it in a position to satisfy more requests for supply from applicants for the 2005 contract period and happily, more Sightholders from July 2005.

 

Launched in 2000, Supplier of Choice is the DTC’s business strategy to drive consumer demand for diamond jewellery in an environment where diamonds are facing greater competition than ever before from other luxury categories, such as international travel and luxury goods brands.  To date, the DTC believes that Supplier of Choice has helped to generate significant and positive benefits for the diamond industry by encouraging its customers to add value and to market diamond jewellery more effectively to consumers.  In 2004, diamond jewellery sales increased by 8%, following a 7% increase in 2003. 

 

Commenting on the Supplier of Choice strategy, Gareth Penny, Managing Director of DTC said, “Our aim is to help grow the value of the diamond jewellery market, which we anticipate will be worth US$75bn by 2012 and the Supplier of Choice strategy is helping us, our Sightholders and the wider industry to achieve this.  I am delighted to welcome on board all our new and existing Sightholders for the next supply contract period.  They represent an impressive group of demand-driven, customer-focused businesses.  Sightholders are demonstrating that continued and even further enhanced competitive, efficient and value-adding business activities are not only vital for the future health of the diamond jewellery industry but also bring with them real and rapid business benefits.”

 

Varda Shine, Sales Director of DTC said, “We have been through a rigorous process in identifying Sightholders for the new contract period.  I am delighted to report that the standard of the profile submissions we received from applicant businesses was of a very high quality, demonstrating the progress that has been made by DTC and its Sightholders in aligning their businesses.  It was also clear from the profiles that our clients are now well placed to continue adding value for their customers and helping grow demand – on which the future expansion of the industry rests.”

 

The successful new applicants represent a range of different business models and come from many different geographic locations.

 

Sightholders will benefit from a number of improvements in the next supply contract period.  In line with feedback from existing Sightholders, the contract period starting in July 2005 has been extended from 2 years to 2.5 years.  From July 2005, Sightholders will also benefit from Value Added Services, which will enable the DTC’s clients to add value to their downstream relationships through supply planning tools, as well as growth and business development tools.

 

For the current Supplier of Choice applications, the DTC applied exactly the same process as in 2003.  This involves inviting current Sightholders and new applicants to submit profiles, which are then assessed by the DTC using objective criteria.  There are three elements to the process: 

• Assessment - of the relative performance of applicants against six key criteria: financial standing, market position, distribution abilities, marketing strengths, technical and manufacturing ability and compliance with criteria relating to business ethics and Best Practice Principles
• Application - the DTC also takes into account the rough diamonds that clients request to be supplied
• Availability - it is important that the DTC can meet the supply request of the applicants. 

The DTC will publish a revised online directory of Sightholders in January 2006.