Editor’s Note
This article highlights Antwerp’s pivotal role in the global diamond trade, where 80% of Europe’s rough diamonds are traded, supporting 30,000 local jobs. It also touches on the evolving dynamics of the industry, including the impact of Russian diamonds.
Antwerp is the center of the diamond trade. Eight out of ten rough diamonds that arrive in Europe change hands in the Belgian city. 30,000 jobs there depend on the diamond trade.
Before Russia’s war against Ukraine, the share of Russian diamonds in the trade was approximately 25 percent.
It would be expected that the industry would react calmly to a possible import ban on Russian diamonds. The opposite is the case. The industry fears a European import ban, says Tom Neys.
Unlike with gas and oil, the trade chains for diamonds are very easy to adjust. EU sanctions would be easy to circumvent. It is enough for diamond traders to adjust their flight route and fly to India or Dubai to sell their goods.
There, the Russian rough diamonds would be cut and polished, and from that moment on, it would no longer be possible to tell whether they were diamonds from Russia, Neys points out.
The solution would be certified supply chains for diamonds along the entire value chain. This would allow the origin of the gemstones to be proven at any time.
In conjunction with the Belgian government, diamond traders in Antwerp are advocating for such a technical solution. The idea: All countries that support the sanctions against Russia introduce this seamless proof of origin for diamonds.
This would hit Russia hard. And it would also affect intermediate stations in the diamond trade in India or Dubai. Because 80 percent of all diamonds end up in Europe, the USA, Canada, or Japan sooner or later – i.e., the G7 countries. Like the EU, they also want to limit the export of Russian diamonds.
On paper, this solution is convincing. However, it has a major catch: the practical, technical implementation.
To this day, there is still no functioning system that could certify the entire trade chain. So far, there are only partial solutions. Integrating them is technically possible but requires many months of preparation time. A European import ban on Russian diamonds is likely to be correspondingly difficult to enforce.