The Botswana government is expected to continue selling its diamonds through De Beers' Diamond Trading Centre, the Botswana Gazette reports, citing information leaked from negotiations between the government and De Beers.

The current sales agreement for Botswana's diamonds is due to expire on December 31, 2010 and negotiations for renewal have been ongoing. One issue was reportedly the DTC price book, which according to some undervalued diamonds from Debswana (the diamond mining venture jointly owned by the government and De Beers). De Beers said that this claim stemmed from an incomplete understanding of the DTC price book.

In addition, DTC is costly, with a commission rate of 12.5%.

There have also been reports that newcomers to the diamond industry such as India and China were lobbying to be considered third-party competitors for Botswana's diamonds, which some saw as potentially weakening De Beers' negotiating position with the government.

However, according to the Gazette, it seems that Botswana has elected to continue to sell its diamonds through the DTC because of the price stability provided by the arrangement.