HARARE - India's diamond industry has lamented the continued deadlock in the Kimbereley Process Certification Scheme to licence the sale of diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange fields.The World Diamond Council has issued a statement saying that Marange diamonds have not yet received a formal or final approval for export by the Kimberley Process despite official claims here that the regulatory body had okayed sales The World Diamond Council communicated that negotiations were continuing regarding legal export of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe.
“This is a major setback. The industry, especially the diamantaires in Surat, was eagerly waiting for the Zimbabwe goods to flood the market in order to overcome the severe shortage of rough diamonds,” said Sanjay Kothari, vice chairman of Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) in a statement.
Chandrakant Sanghavi, chairman of Sanghavi Exports, added: “The rough prices have appreciated by almost 30 percent in 2010 due to the shortages and the prices were expected to increase throughout 2011.
The deadlock over the export of diamonds from Zimbabwe will create a difficult situation for the diamantaires.”
In July 2010, the Kimberley Process agreed that some diamonds from Marange could be sold and exported. Two auctions were subsequently held, and most of those diamonds were purchased by traders in India.
After those two sales, exports were stopped until stones from Marange fields were certified by industry regulators. But it is beleived government held three secret sales between October and December outside the KP dictates.
Human rights groups and Western countries sitting in the KP accuse Zimbabwe’s security forces of abuses in the now heavily secured diamond fields in the eastern part of the country and have been pushing for a ban on the stones. Government says it has taken steps to comply with the KP action plan, and say Western countries were trying to stop the sales to spite
President Mugabe and to ratchet up sanctions on his regime.
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