Some Zimbabwe Goods Still Stuck in Dubai, Calls for Quick Resolution

Diamonds from Zimbabwe cought at a Dubai airport

(IDEX Online News) – A large portion of  the $160 million worth of rough diamonds that arrived in Dubai from Zimbabwe’s Marange field are still in Dubai, according to  Ahmed bin Sulayem, executive chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).

According to Sulayem, the Kimberley Process (KP) has not cleared the goods remaining in Dubai. Those goods that were cleared were shipped to India, he said

"The situation is unfortunate and the gridlock affects the KP and the whole diamond community. One way or another, it needs to be sorted out,” Sulayem added.

“Unless there is a clear go ahead from the KP and its Working Group on Monitoring (WGM), I will not allow these goods to be shipped out,” Sulayem said. “This would be very bad for the diamond industry and particularly the diamond dealers who bought these goods in the belief that the KP had cleared them. I wouldn’t want them to be at the receiving end of a witch hunt,” he said.

“Successful diamond dealers always want to be ahead of the general market and so these dealers bought these goods from Zimbabwe’s Marange fields in order to be the first. The only good thing to come out of this,” he added with a laugh, “is that diamond prices have gone up some 50% since they bought these goods. So the goods that have been shipped are considerably more valuable. I can’t even imagine the kind of problems I would have had to deal with had the prices gone down instead!”

Sulayem was speaking to the media at the inauguration of the 28th edition of the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS), where he was the guest of honor.

Sanjay Kothari, vice chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), said, “India, China and Dubai, the three diamond manufacturing and trading centers, are caught in the middle in a confrontation between the African producing countries and the consuming centers like the U.S. and Europe. We don't want to antagonize either our raw material suppliers or our biggest markets,” he said. “We want a quick resolution to the issue.”