Antwerp: Belgium has been in lockdown state for almost two months since mid-March 2020. Now, media reports say the country is beginning to ease the situation. This will mean the opening up of the diamond district in Antwerp among other industries in the country.
The nationwide lockdown, on account of the coronavirus had “virtually halted business” in the world’s largest diamond trading centre, the report noted.
“The return of some of the brokers, cutters and couriers who normally throng the city’s heavily-guarded diamond district, known as the Square Mile, comes as two of the world’s biggest gold refiners resume operations after Switzerland relaxed its lockdown measures,” said a Reuters report.
According to the latest accessed figures at time of writing, Belgium had a total of 50,781 cases of coronavirus detected and 8,339 deaths.
“Some 600 trading companies in the Square Mile shut their doors and 90% of the diamond cutting businesses closed, forcing most of the 500 cutters there to seek unemployment benefits, according to Melissa Smet, executive director of the Syndicate of the Belgian Diamond Industry,” Reuters reported.
For most of the period that Belgium was under lockdown, several mines too had been shut, and much of international transport suspended. As a result, it is reported that diamond shipments to Antwerp “dropped to as little as 26 shipments a day”. “This compares to an average of 400-500 shipments per day of powder, rough and polished diamonds totalling some US$250 million before the crisis hit, according to Karen Rentmeesters, spokesperson for the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC)”, Reuters noted.
AWDC data points to March imports of polished diamonds falling by 73.5% from US$1.5 billion to US$400 million compared to March 2019; while exports of rough diamonds slumped 51.3% to US$449 million from US$922 million in the previous year.
And, as the diamond business cranks into action, there are several challenges confronting it. Foremost is, of course, to maintain the social distancing principle with the mandatory 1.5 meters of space between workers, which has proved to be difficult given the manner in which factories are planned as well as the manner in which the cutting and polishing takes place.
And then, there is the problem of depressed prices. Reuters quoted Rentmeesters as saying: “We do see a significant drop in prices both on polished and rough side but it’s a complex situation.”
However, on the bright side, AWDC pointed out to the phenomenon of “revenge shopping” in Asia, and the performance of luxury groups such as LVMH, which bode well for the diamond industry once the industry opens up.
