Game Changer: Zimbabwe Moves Diamond Sales to Dubai
October 23, 23
(IDEX Online) - Zimbabwe's biggest diamond producer is now conducting almost all its sales in Dubai, in a move it has described as a "game changer".
The state-owned ZCDC (Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company) has sold 4m carats there so far this year, up from 850,000 carats in the whole of 2022.
"For us, Dubai has been a game changer," sales and marketing manager Enock Moyo told Bloomberg News. He said it aimed to increase $1bn of annual revenue from diamond sales by 2030.
Moving rough diamond auctions from Zimbabwe to UAE gives ZCDC direct access to cutters, polishers and traders without intermediaries.
They have reportedly attracted 150 buyers, around five times as many as in Zimbabwe.
There are vast diamond reserves in Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields but ongoing brutality against artisanal miners and allegations of wholesale corruption have resulted in embargoes by the United States and the European Union.
Zimbabwe's government has been keen to resume diamond and other sales internationally, as it battles grinding poverty among its 15m population.