At a presentation made to the ‘Special Forum on Diamond Equity’ held at the ongoing KP Intersessional Meet in Perth, GJEPC’s Diamond Panel Convener Sanjay Shah has stressed boosting consumer demand for diamonds will only be possible through developing a ‘clean and transparent’ diamond trade, adequately financed generic promotion campaigns and clear differentiation between the synthetic and natural diamond pipeline.

The forum was coordinated by the World Diamond Council which has been working towards changes in the System of Warranties, an additional set of documentation and protocols that could accompany a KP certificate.

Shah pointed out that polished diamond demand and prices had seen almost zero growth over the last nine years leading to lack of sustainable margins in the mid-stream. He stressed that both mining companies and countries need to shoulder the responsibility for creating consumer desire to increase the overall diamond market that could lead to an increase in polished diamond prices.

Calling for strong generic promotions at all levels by all stakeholders with a worldwide budget of at least US$ 100 million, Shah said that the Indian industry would actively participate in and contribute to the effort.

He also said that having both compliance and transparency across the pipeline would increase consumer confidence and added that a body like GJEPC with its MyKYC project could help African countries in self-regulation and standardised enforcement processes.

Shah also pointed out that the industry should make efforts to differentiate synthetics and prevent undisclosed mixing with natural diamonds. He said that GJEPC had already taken a lead in this regard.

He concluded that if all these tasks were fulfilled, the mid-stream could achieve sustainable returns and improve talent retention, which would also lead to better rough prices.