Antwerp Industry to Focus on Brazil in 2015
March 11, 15
(IDEX Online News) – The Antwerp diamond industry is turning its attention to the Latin American market and will be paying particular attention to Brazil.
As part of this plan, representatives from the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) will accompany the Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Peter De Crem on a trip to Brazil where it will hold a seminar about the Kimberley Process.
“Antwerp is one of the leaders as concerns application of the strict Kimberley Process regulations, and with the more than 550 years of experience as a trade center that we have to offer, Brazil is welcoming us with open arms,” says Ari Epstein, CEO of the AWDC.
Brazil is currently ranked 17th in terms of global diamond producing countries, producing just 50,000 carats per year with a value of $3.7 million, but geologists have discovered 50 potential diamond mines.
“There are two reasons why these mines have not been exploited,” says Epstein. “On the one hand, the Brazilians do not know how they have to set up the (commercial) exploitation of mines like these; on the other hand, they do not know how they have to implement the strict regulations and controls that apply to the diamond industry around the world.”
The Lipari Mine will be commercially exploited for the first time this year. The entire production of this mine, some 225,000 carats annually, will be processed in Antwerp.
Later this year, the Antwerp diamond sector will act as a co-organizer of the GMB Brazil (Global Minerals Business Brazil) conference. The objective of this high level event is to bring the Brazilian and Antwerp diamond and jewelry industry closer together.