The diamond industry is changing and becoming more professional, transparent, and accountable to local producers, participants at the 2011 Antwerp Diamond Conference said on its opening day May 24.
“The winds of change are blowing strongly through the diamond industry, and the world that they leave behind them will be greatly different to the one that existed previously,” Ari Epstein, CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, organizer of the conference, said in his welcoming remarks.
Speaking during a session on banking, Pierre De Bosscher, CEO of Antwerp Diamond Bank, said that changes in banking regulation will likely lead to greater corporatization in the diamond industry, with more transparency and higher capitalization. Victor Van Der Kwast, CEO of the International Jewellery Group of ABN Amro Bank, warned that transparency still needs to be improved, and that scrutiny of company documentation was higher than before.
The afternoon session of the conference focused on rough diamond supply. Jean-Marc Lieberherr, the general manager of Rio Tinto Diamonds, noted that the industry continues to lag behind other industries in marketing and this underscores the need to establish a pan-industry body to drive long-term generic demand for diamond products.
Des Kilalea, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, predicted that the volume of rough diamond supply will be flat at best over the course of the coming decade, given the expense of diamond exploration and the small amount of companies involved in it.
Tim Dabson, the executive director of beneficiation at De Beers’ Diamond Trading Company, spoke about the growing role of the African DTCs. He said there were almost 40 DTC sightholders in Africa, and that diamond manufacturing had been shown to be sustainable.
The conference was opened by Patrick Janssens, the mayor of Antwerp, who highlighted the role of the diamond business in the city.