"We – the manufacturers – carry the burden of financing the diamond industry. We alone finance rough diamonds, inventories and memos" – this statement was addressed by the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) President Moti Ganz to the WFDB Presidents' Convention Joint Session which opened this morning in Antwerp. Moti Ganz heartily commended the Chairman of the GJEPC in India – Vasant Mehta, "who was the only person demonstrating true leadership during the crisis, when he stopped the imports of rough diamonds into India for a short period of time."



Moti Ganz stated that every crisis offers an opportunity and indeed, during the current crisis many diamantaires made an effort to streamline their business in various ways. Furthermore, he pointed out the conclusions that diamantaires must draw from the delivery of diamonds on memo in the US diamond market: "We take orders and deliver the goods, but ultimately we see the goods return to the diamond suppliers, the banks do not accept receipts and refuse goods that were delivered on memo as collateral." Moti Ganz called upon the WFDB to jointly address the issue.

On the subject of relations with the banks financing the diamond business, he said that diamond merchants should rebuild their relations with the banks and reach new agreements.



Moti Ganz also addressed the growing trend of selling diamonds via tenders: "Diamond tenders are not beneficial for our business because supply via tenders does not allow us to prepare a work plan for the manufacturer on the one hand and for the retail market on the other."

A long and interesting debate on the subject of tenders took place in IDMA’s afternoon session. The presidents of the diamond manufacturers associations deliberated whether all that could be done is to express dissatisfaction with this trend, and whether it was possible to take real action, or at least draft a joint position in the matter. A resolution may be reached on this issue today.



At the end of his opening presentation Moti Ganz thanked his colleague, WFDB President Avi Paz: "The two organizations work in close cooperation for the benefit of the global diamond industry, because we believe that one plus one are equal to much more than two, and our strength lies in following a joint path.”