Highlights from Day One of World Diamond Congress

The first full day of the 32nd World Diamond Congress was devoted to a series of WFDB and IDMA working sessions closed to the public, and two open sessions.

• World Federation of Diamond Bourse's Vice President Ernie Blom was unanimously elected as president of the WFDB. Blom replaces outgoing President, Shmuel Schnitzer. Already on the job, the South African Blom presided over the second joint session and opening it by thanking Schnitzer for his work over the past four years.

• DTC Managing Director Varda Shine spoke about the need for constant change in the diamond industry because the consumers' fascination with diamonds cannot be expected to last forever. She also said that the industry needs to prepare for the impact of synthetic diamonds on the market. Consolidation or differentiation can create increased margins. Regarding cash flow problems Shine said that transparency will bring in more financiers from outside the industry. Regarding change Shine told the audience to embrace the new era, an era of competition, "change is not easy but it is attainable." She ended by talking about the three elements a business needs to succeed: the right vision; innovation; and talented and ambitious people. 

• Alexander Nichiporuk, president of Alrosa Co. Ltd. spoke about flexible pricing policy. In answer to a question from the audience about lowering the price of goods, Nichiporuk answered that Alrosa needs to change its position on pricing, but there is a need to keep the market stable.

• Aber Diamond Corp. CEO and Chairman Robert Gannicott discussed the importance of 'book ending' the market. In Aber's case, gross margins from mining total 59 percent, while gross margins from retailing total 51 percent.

• Two years after it was formed, the Moscow Diamond Bourse was accepted into WFDB, becoming the 26th member bourse in the federation.

• Sarin Technologies Ltd. revealed two new state-of-the-art products for polished and rough diamond color grading and prediction, at a luncheon sponsored by the company on the first day of the WDC. The two new products are Colibri, for measuring and grading color and fluorescence of polished diamonds, and OrchiDia, for predicting the color of rough diamonds.