Diamond Trading Company (DTC), De Beers’ sales arm, has decided to offer the smallest sight (supply) of rough diamonds to its sight holders with an estimated value of $80-$100 million for the month of January. “The release of small sight for the current month is not a surprise for the market. We expected the supply cut as a result of lower demand. It is similar to the value of the December sight,” a representative of a leading Indian sight holder said. This is the first sight of the calendar year 2009. The company reduced the December 2008 sight to $100 million from $300 million for the November sight, as demand has dropped significantly in the current economic scenario, market sources said.
“In view of the substantially decreased level of sight holder demand for new rough diamonds, we anticipate reducing the Intentions To Offer (ITO) offered to sight holders by roughly 50% for the remainder of the current ITO period, the January, February and March/April 2009 sights, although this will be assessed on a sight-by-sight basis,” Varda Shine, managing director of DTC, said last week. Imports of rough diamonds into the country will remain low in the next month as the major industry players have some stock-on-hand, said Sanjay Kothari, ex-chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Export promotion Council. DTC has changed the way in which it offered goods to each sight holder for this month?s sight, according to Rapaport Newswire reports.
