DTC Starting to Roll Out Sightholder Application Process

The Diamond Trading Company (DTC), the sales and marketing arm of De Beers, is to begin a series of presentations for diamond firms interested in becoming Sightholders. The next Sightholder contract period, which starts in 2008, is for three years. The presentations will be held in diamond centers such as Antwerp, Mumbai, and Ramat Gan, with at least one more in Toronto.

The DTC currently has 95 Sightholders, whose two and a half year contract period ends in 2008. Until a few years ago, the application process was partially secretive. However, with the introduction of the Supplier of Choice (SoC) scheme, the diamond miner arrived at an agreement with European regulatory authorities about how to select Sightholders and what the DTC may ask applicants.

To become a Sightholder, applicants in the past two rounds had to submit an application with details about their business, and list the type of goods they want. Sightholders were selected based on a computerized system that took into consideration their application score and the availability of goods.

The new application will be similar to the current model; however, the DTC plans greater human intervention in the final decision. The last two rounds were also dominated by De Beers’ much criticized desire for their clients to be more involved in downstream activities. The new contract will place less emphasis on this aspect of the business, recognizing that some potential clients are best at narrow range of activities, but still add value to the goods.