The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) completed a two-day meeting of the executive committee and Asia-Pacific presidents’ summit in Shanghai, having addressed a range of “crucial issues affecting the global diamond industry,” according to WFDB’s president, Ernie Blom.
“The executive committee meeting and Asia-Pacific presidents’ summit once again proved its worth in providing a setting for comprehensive discussions on all the critical issues of the day that are affecting our members,” said Blom. “The executive meeting adopted a very firm stand on the issue of global grading standards. We will have zero tolerance for flagrant abuse of grading standards.”
Additional topics included declining profitability for the WFDB members due to high rough prices and falling polished prices, as well as the decrease in bank credit to the trade and the need to boost consumer demand for stones.
Attendees praised the World Diamond Mark (WDM) for promoting generic diamond marketing. The program has recently launched a new website and it will add Chinese language and WeChat, the Chinese version of Facebook, shortly.
“Coming to China, as with every previous visit, has again been an eye-opener,” said Blom. “This is an incredibly important country for the diamond industry.”
