Surat: Tuesday Before the opening of the DTC site on 2 May 2023, following a report from Antwerp, Belgium, disappointment has spread in the Diamond Jewelery Industry across the country, including Surat, Mumbai.
- Belgian parliamentary committee approves ban on Russian diamonds
- Due to the ban, rough traffic from the European route will stop, now all trade will be via Dubai
Belgian parliamentary committee approves ban on Russian diamonds. The resolution will now be presented to the Belgian Parliament. Where all parties, including the ruling party, are in favor of banning Russia. If the ban is imposed, it will stop the rough coming from the European route, and the entire trade will go via Dubai.
Due to India-UAE Free Trade Agreement, Russia will expand rough diamond trade from Dubai. But the problem will arise for the Indian gem and jewelery industry that finished diamonds and jewelery used to go to European countries through the Brussels route of Belgium. That trade will have a wide impact. Items can no longer be shipped to the US and Belgium.
There will also be difficulties in sending cut and polished diamonds and diamond jewelery made from Russian rough to European Union countries. Belgium’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs has approved a resolution calling on the Belgian government to ban Russian diamonds from entering the country and to add to the next round of European Union (EU) sanctions on Alrosa, a company that sells diamonds from Russian-owned diamond mines, JCK reported.
Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC) spokesman Tom Neis said the resolution would have no immediate effect. Antwerp and the AWDC want to contribute to fair and watertight solutions to verify the origin of diamonds and exclude Russian diamonds from G7 markets.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some drastic measures have been taken by the European Union. However, industrialists have warned the Belgian government that the decision will shift the bulk of the rough diamond trade from Antwerp to Dubai. would hurt Antwerp instead of Russia. There is a possibility that the G7 countries meeting to be held in Hiroshima, Japan from 19 to 23 May 2023 will present a proposal to keep Russian diamonds out of the G7 markets.
DTC site opens, solitaire rough price cut by 10%
Surat: The Russia-Ukraine war and the global recession have affected the natural diamond and jewelery trade in Europe, including the US. Then the Diamond Trading Corporation (DTC) took cognizance of the market situation and lured the site holders by directly reducing the price of solitaire diamonds by 10% in the site for the month of April. So that the market of thick diamonds can increase.
However, DTC did not increase the prices of thin rough, LC and brown rough. That is, prices have been kept stable in qualities other than solitaire. DTC had raised the price of LC and brown rough by 5 to 10 percent in March last month. Even then the prices of white and solitaire rough were reduced due to lack of demand in the market for thick diamonds.