Varda Shine, managing director of De Beers’s Diamond Trading Company, denied that the company had deliberately targeted Indian companies when it recently cut its list of sight holder clients from 93 down to 79 for the new two-and-a-half-year contract period ending in 2011.

She dismissed claims that up to 150,000 jobs could be lost in the Indian industry, and said that the quantity supplied to India will actually be the same as or even greater than before.

The collapse of the U.S. housing market and fears that the country is falling into recession, potentially affecting the rest of the world, will pose challenges for the diamond industry this year, Shine said. However, she said rising demand in emerging markets like China and India will help compensate, while super-rich U.S., Russian and Chinese customers are driving demand for large white, blue and pink diamonds.

Rough diamond supplies will remain stable this year since no new sources have been found, Shine said.

[AFNS] LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM 05-02-2008 – by Diamondtopics.com