Forevermark Bullish on India, Building Second Facility in Surat

(IDEX Online News) – De Beers' Forevermark brand is investing $7 million in its second Forevermark Diamond Institute in the Indian diamond processing center of Surat, says the brand's CEO, Stephen Lussier.

The firm believes that that India, despite its macroeconomic woes, will continue to be the fastest-growing diamond market in the world, he told DNAIndia.com.

Lussier said that although India has traditionally been a market for gold jewelry, that situation is changing and diamond jewelry is about 10-15 percent of the entire jewelry market. "Considering that the share is still small, we see a great opportunity for us. That is the reason that we are investing in India."

 He said the facility would house the firm's diamond selection, inscription and grading operations. "We want to be near our customers. The institute is the second one after Antwerp in Belgium. We believe this will further our growth in India."

He said that the firm has been focusing on increasing its distribution and marketing reach. "We expanded our distribution by nearly 50 percent. We have grown by 30 percent in India this year and we expect to grow at the same momentum. In fact, out of our entire distribution, 10 percent is spread across India and that is also equivalent to the share that India has in the diamond market.

"India represents about 10 percent of the overall market as far as the consumption of polished diamonds is concerned. The entire diamond market in India grew at 18 percent in 2012 and it would definitely be slower than that in 2013. But we think it is a short-term blip."

He commented that the firm is present in 12 markets, with India "at No.3, better placed than Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia and other markets. India sits with China and the US in this regard. We are very confident about India. We believe that it is going to be better in the second half of this year".

Asked about polished diamond prices, he said they were "hotting up. The prices of polished diamonds increased in December and January. We've to see how they pan out. We expect them to go up even more. But I guess in the diamond industry no one would want to see more than a moderate increase of 3-5 percent."