Issues concerning rough producers’ strategies and the dilemmas of manufacturing centers dominated discussion for most of the first day of the International Diamond Conference Mines to Market 2007 organized by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) of India. The conference started Thursday in Mumbai.

 

Addressing the inaugural session, India’s Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh expressed his government’s support for beneficiation moves by African countries, adding that India’s strength in human resource development could be of immense help to governments there in their efforts to strengthen the local industry and economy.

 

He hoped that Indian diamantaires could forge mutually beneficial partnerships with African governments, and that concrete decisions could be taken during a June visit of an Indian delegation to Africa.

 

Giving an overview of the Indian manufacturing industry, Praveenshankar Pandya, Convener of the Rough Sourcing Sub-Committee of GJEPC, and Chairman, Diamond India Ltd., said that the India would be happy to develop a common approach with the mining countries that could aid development in both Africa and India.

 

This could be based on long-term contracts for the supply of rough to India, where cutting and polishing could be commercially viable. Indian diamantaires could invest both in the mining and downstream development like jewelry manufacturing.

 

Presenting their strategies for the development of the local economy, were Angola’s deputy prime minister Jaime Aguinaldo and Endiama’s chairman Dr Manuel Arnaldo Calado. Endiama’s director of planning and investment stated that many opportunities existed for forming ventures to develop new mines in Angola.

 

The delegation said that investing Indian companies could receive rough. They also said that Endiama hoped to open an office in India in the near future.

 

On a similar note, Yuri Okoemov, Director General USO of Alrosa, presenting on behalf of Alrosa President Sergey Vybornov noted that under the new policies of his country, and the changes in distribution channels, there was good potential for rough to come directly to India as Alrosa had begun a detailed study for the selection of its would be regular customers outside of Russia.

 

The two major mining companies reiterated their positive outlook on India both as a mature cutting center and as a market with growing potential. Steve Hodgson of Rio Tinto Diamonds said that RTD would continue its close partnership with the Indian industry and hoped to make some breakthroughs on the mining of rough within the country as well.

 

The huge potential of the Indian market was also highlighted by Stuart Brown of De Beers, who stressed that corporate responsibility and partnerships with local governments for mutually beneficial and sustainable development based on the available raw materials, was now a very important part of the company’s strategy.

 

Both Hodgson and Brown urged the Indian government to make necessary policy changes that would help speed up diamond exploration activities in India.

 

The lack of profitability was raised as one of the most important issues facing the manufacturing centers, and different strategies were presented by participants.

 

While Eurostar's Kaushik Mehta felt that value addition through innovative partnerships forged with downstream players was an important ingredient of success, Shmuel Schnitzer, honorary life president of WFDB, called for producers to develop new credit policies and share the burden of the long credit periods on which finished goods are sold to clients by manufacturers.

 

Mahendra Brothers' Ketan Parikh said that the industry needed self-discipline to tackle the issues of over capacity, and a common strategy across the pipeline to create increased demand for diamonds, especially in the face of the growing competition from other luxury goods.