21 April 2015
The diamond industry has a few years to prepare for the next 50 years, said Paul Rowley, De Beers’ Executive Vice President of Global Sightholder Sales, today. Speaking at the Dubai Diamond Conference, he said that all participants in the diamond industry must focus on targeted investments if they are to make the most of the opportunities over the medium and long term.
Mr Rowley said Dubai is an example of how to generate success in the diamond industry through a series of targeted investments. Mr Rowley noted that Dubai had grown from playing a minor role in the global diamond business to become one of the key trading centres by recognising the opportunity on the horizon, then investing to create a positive enabling environment. Highlighting De Beers’ activities throughout the diamond pipeline, Mr Rowley noted that De Beers was also using targeted investments to position itself for future success:
“Starting with the consumer – as consumer demand is the only true source of value in the diamond trade – we invest in diamond equity. In the midstream, we invest in rough diamond sales and distribution excellence and improved efficiency, while upstream we continue to invest in production capacity expansion (with Cut 8, Venetia Underground and Gahcho Kue) as well as exploration, so that we so that we can help meet increasing diamond demand.”