New Sightholders, Assortments, Marketing at DTC Sight

It is dubbed Sight four, but the most recent Sight marked a number of firsts. It was the first Sight of the 2008-2011 contract period with a number of first-time Sightholders. It also had new rough diamond assortments, a factor that threw off some Sightholders that had tried to evaluate the true price changes.

The DTC introduced its new logo at the Sight

Estimated at $650 million, some of the greatest price hikes were probably seen among the specials – the bigger and nicer (and not as frequently mined) goods. Sightholders reported price hikes of 5 percent, 7 percent and even 12 percent on some boxes. But while the price hike was a reaction to rising prices in the secondary market, boxes of some of the nicer goods still commanded 10-15 percent premiums.

As one Sightholder said, the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) is still a lower cost supplier then Rio Tinto, Aber and even BHP Billiton, which has recently raised prices by as much as four percent.

The new assortments, some widening the range of goods in the boxes, some narrowing it (a 3 - 8 grainer box is now a 4 - 8 grainer) are making it difficult to assess the box prices, but were easily accepted by the Sightholders.

Other firsts at the Sight included DTC sporting a new logo and De Beers Marketing presenting the new plans of the second launch of Forevermark – complete with fresh questions by Sightholders about the nature of their relationship with De Beers (for more about the Forevermark plans, see related article here).