WFDB highlights falling profits at executive meeting

The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has highlighted the falling profits of polished diamonds at an executive meeting in China.  

The discussion took place at the WFDB executive committee meeting and Asia-Pacific presidents’ summit held in Shanghai on March 9 and 10.

Regional WFDB presidents, including president Ernie Blom, were hosted by the Shanghai Diamond Exchange for the meeting, which welcomed delegates from China, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Russia.

At the meeting, the main topic of discussion was the declining profitability for WFDB’s members due to high rough prices and falling polished prices, as well as the decrease in bank credit to the diamond trade and the necessity of boosting consumer demand via generic promotion campaigns.

Blom said: “The Exco Meeting and Asia-Pacific Presidents’ Summit once again proved its worth in providing a setting for comprehensive discussions on all the critical issues of the day that are affecting our members. The Exco Meeting adopted a very firm stand on the issue of global standards of grading. We will have zero tolerance for flagrant abuse of grading standards.”

There was praise for the work of the World Diamond Mark (WDM) in promoting generic diamond marketing, and the success of its work in achieving cooperation with Turkey and Dubai.

Participants were also told that WDM’s new website had been launched, and was set to be translated into Chinese within the coming months.