IDMA Lashes Out at Miners While Demanding They Fund Industry Marketing

(IDEX Online News) – In his first public message, IDMA president Maxim Shkadov called upon rough diamond producers to back a joint industry marketing plan to increase the market share of polished diamonds and diamond jewelry in the luxury consumer product sector, at the same time as lashing out at diamond miners.

While Shkadov called for "some strategic thinking about the future of the diamond supply pipeline," a large part of his message was a criticism of the structure of the rough trading sector of the diamond pipeline and an attack, at times a direct one, against the mining companies.

He noted a long list of market shortcomings, and then stated, "[W]hen the client is turned into some kind of money extraction machine, we find ourselves where we are now," Shkadov stated. "Sadly, there is no real competition in the rough diamond market."

His criticism of the mining sector did not prevent him from calling on miners, those with the biggest profit margins, to fund a dynamic effort to increase demand for diamonds.

"The question is therefore, why are they not stepping up to shoulder that effort? Wake up, your business – our business – is under threat," He railed. "We, the manufacturers will all help you in this endeavor," Shkadov concluded, without explaining how he intends to do so.