DTC Adds 11 Sightholders, Drops None Due to "Increased Production"

Increased diamond production by De Beers allows the diamond firm to increase its list of clients to 95. The surprise announcement by the company is the last stretch of the long process of applications.

“De Beers increased production by nearly 20 percent since 2000,” DTC Sales Director Varda Shine told IDEX Online a short while ago.

The 95 Sightholders Supplier of Choice (SoC) contract period will run two and a half years until 2008. Among the 11 new Sightholders are several South African firms, bringing the total number of SA Sightholders to 19, more than half of which are Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) compliant.

It is understood that there are several new Indian Sightholders, several in Belgium but no new Israeli firms.

Despite this, Shine says there is no clear leaning towards any particular center. “The successful new applicants represent a range of different business models and come from many different geographic locations,” the DTC said in an official statement.

According to Shine, since the introduction of SoC, Sightholders’ businesses have improved dramatically, evident from the Assessment stage of the application, which measured 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

The Assessment stage was one of three elements to the selection process, known as the Three A’s. The other two are Application - the rough diamonds that clients request to be supplied with (also known as Intention To Offer – ITO) and Availability – what the company expects to produce.  

Launched in 2000, Supplier of Choice is the DTC’s business strategy to drive consumer demand for diamond jewelry in an environment where diamonds are facing greater competition than ever before from other luxury categories, such as international travel and luxury goods brands.

According to the DTC, in 2004, diamond jewelry sales increased by 8%, following a 7% increase in 2003.