Hong Kong’s diamond-promotion body plans to start checking wholesalers’ inventory for synthetics, as part of a program aimed at boosting consumer confidence and giving retailers better peace of mind.
The Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, China (DFHK) has been scrutinizing retailers’ inventories through the Natural Diamond Quality Assurance (NDQA) Mark since early 2015. Jewelers who sign up for the scheme are subject to laboratory tests of a random sample of their diamond jewelry, both when they join and during the annual renewal process. In return, they can display the program’s quality symbol in their stores.
But until now, the scheme has not covered the wholesale sector, which makes up the majority of the DFHK’s membership. This is the next step for the NDQA Mark and will help diamond traders become the guardians of quality in the industry, asserted Chow Kit Shing, vice chairman for retail at the DFHK.
“Retailers and wholesalers are dependent on each other,” Chow said in a DFHK report on the program’s progress. “Consumers will acquire more diamond jewelry when they have confidence in the gems. Retailers will then stock up on diamonds from wholesalers in order to meet [their] growing needs.”
As such, he continued, “when suppliers manage to perform the gatekeeping duty of quality control, it helps downstream retailers maintain product quality effectively.”
