De Beers are coming up with strategies like Selling rough diamonds to companies that are not sightholders and continuing to market the enduring value of diamonds to weather the current economic crisis.These are just two among the other strategies De Beer is employing to fight the current crisis.

DTC Managing Director Varda Shine said the substantial decrease in sightholder demand for rough diamonds has the DTC anticipating a 50 percent reduction in its offerings for January, February and March/April. She said this at the Diamond Trading Co.'s (DTC) annual Client Reception for sightholders, held in London on Jan. 20.

"The DTC is exploring options for bringing surplus goods to the market once very avenue of sightholder demand has been satisfied," Shine said, according to an online transcript of her speech.

The DTC is searching for other ways to sell rough diamond looking at the decrease in demand which also includes making rough available to the secondary market goods that are not absorbed by the sightholders.

In a statement released on Thursday, World Federation of Diamond Bourses President Avi Paz applauded this decision, noting that the diamond trade will be better equipped to deal with the diamond crisis if small and medium-sized companies have access to rough at "fair and current market prices."

Paz also said, "If the DTC's new approach pans out, as we hope it does, it could bring some much-needed relief to the secondary market.We welcome the DTC's decision not only because it will be good for the industry, but also because it recognizes the stabilizing role of the thousands of dealers and manufacturers who are not sightholders."

In her speech, Shine also said the DTC would continue to actively promote the equity of diamonds through the marketing campaign launched shortly before the 2008 holiday season that stressed the enduring value of the stones.

"We will continue to drive demand by investing in the highly regarded generic marketing campaign in the U.S. that highlights the enduring value of diamonds," Shine said.

On Thursday, DTC spokeswoman Lynnette Gould told National Jeweler that more details about the continuation of this campaign would be revealed at the February sight, scheduled for the week of Feb. 23.

The annual DTC Client Reception was hosted by Shine and attended by De Beers Group Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer and De Beers Group Managing Director Gareth Penny. The event provides sightholders with an opportunity to discuss the year ahead.

Two seminars are conducted by The Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) at the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) GemFair Tucson, scheduled for Feb. 4-9 at the Tucson Convention Center in Arizona.

The topics would be "The Basics of Memo Transactions--The Do's and Don'ts of Trading on Memo," and
"Burma and Beyond--Operating Your Business in Today's New Regulatory Environment" respectively.

The first topic is scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. in the Cochise Room and the latter at 11:00 a.m., in the Mohave Room.

The basic idea is to outline the important points included in the JVC's new guide, "The Essential Guide to 'Memo' Transactions."

Topics will include reviewing consignment agreements, how to protect your business in the event of a bankruptcy and the steps to take to check credit worthiness.JVC will present these topics in association with AGTA Chief Executive Officer Douglas Hucker, this seminar will provide up-to-the-minute information on the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act.
The act which was signed into law in July, prohibits the importation of rubies and jadeite from Burma.

Written materials containing updated information about the act will be available and an international trade specialist from U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be present to answer questions.

Registration is not required for these seminars however space is limited, so the JVC requests those who are interested to arrive on time.

For questions, contact AGTA's Adam Graham at adam@agta.org or the JVC's Amy Greenbaum at amy@jvclegal.org.