The increased use of diamond tenders is hurting the
stability of the diamond market, the International Diamond Manufacturers
Association warned in an Aug. 1 statement and article
published in the Israel Diamond Institute magazine HaYahalom.

“When the large rough producers add a tender here and there,
as a window to the market, to sell especially large goods or for other special
reasons, everyone can continue to breathe normally,” IDMA President Moti Ganz said. “But when the
tender becomes a method in its own right, when it becomes the central marketing
channel, increasingly pushing regular supply to the margins, it’s time to put a
foot on the brakes—and the sooner the better.”

Ganz argued that tenders make it harder for manufacturers to
plan ahead.

“If you don’t win tomorrow’s tender, what will you do?” he
asked. “Who will pay the workers’ wages? Who will pay the taxes, electricity,
water, and all the other bills?”  

Tenders “weaken each and every link along the diamond value
chain,” Ganz added. “The most prominent victims are manufacturers and
retailers.”

However, in the article, Ganz also argued that rough producers are unwitting victims of their own game. “In a world of tenders, the rough producers can’t expect anything. Their only loyalty is to prices, and that kind of loyalty won’t get them far. Certainly not for very long.”

JCK