According to media reports emanating out of Africa, Zimbabwe’s state-owned diamond company, Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), is considering holding diamond auctions outside the country, and is also considering cities in Asia as some of the sites for the auctions.  This thinking is the result of the need felt to increase its marketing reach and scope. 

Miningweekly.com, which had posed questions to ZCDC’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Rob de Pretto, quoted his email response as: “All those big companies like De Beers and Alrosa are also doing it, so we must also be there with them.”

He added: “Harare is not a choice with many international buyers. By going to Dubai, Hong Kong, Antwerp and all those places, that is where the international buyers are.”

As a result, the Company is said to be considering 11 international tenders for diamonds in 2020; the auctions will be conducted by the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ).

It is reported that in September, MMCZ tendered 316,000 carats in Harare, which saw 25 buyers from Belgium, Dubai, India, Israel and South Africa attending the sale.

ZCDC, which had cut its diamond production forecast for this year by 24% to 3.1 million carats, is likely to touch 6.12 million carats in 2020, reports say, adding that Zimbabwe’s peak production of 12 million carats was achieved in 2012.

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