Watch & Jewellery Dubai: DTC Focuses on Region’s Growth

Arabia’s Gulf region is a hot market for diamonds. That’s the message the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) sent to Sightholders and the trade on the first day of the Watch & Jewellery Dubai show, being held this week in Dubai, UAE.

The Gulf region, which is the fourth largest market globally for diamonds, is expected to post a 15 percent increase in diamond jewelry sales in 2005, eclipsing last year's diamond jewelry growth of +14 percent. This increase is well above global diamond jewelry growth, which has averaged in the +5-6 percent range for the past few years.

Major cities in the region are responsible for most of this dramatic growth, with year-to-date preliminary figures indicating that diamond jewelry sales in Riyadh are up 17 percent, Damman, Saudi Arabia up 19 percent, and up 20 percent or more in Dubai.

To help keep diamond jewelry demand momentum strong in the Gulf region, the DTC, De Beers' marketing arm, has planned three initiatives to fuel diamond sales:

• The DTC has hired a dedicated Diamond Promotion Service executive specifically to work with the trade in Dubai to increase sales. This person, who will begin working in January, will hold marketing seminars and provide training support for jewelers and their sales staff.
• A new Pan-Arab marketing program, called Rayana, is being launched to support demand for high-value diamond sets.
• The DTC is introducing the Forevermark into the Gulf region. The Forevermark provides confidence to consumers that a diamond is natural and genuine. In Hong Kong, where the DTC recently finished testing the Forevermark, some jewelers were getting a price premium of 8-10 percent for diamonds bearing this unique mark.