Brazil is Antwerp’s focus market in 2015

In recent years, the Antwerp diamond industry has created its priority focus on Asian markets and will be targeting its offensive on Latin America in 2015. For this, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) will travel to Brazil for the first time along with Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Peter De Crem, from March 12 – 17.

Brazil in particular has many opportunities with regard to diamond production, although it ranks currently at 17 among diamond producing countries. Geologists have mapped some 50 potential diamond mines in Brazil in recent years.

“There are two reasons why these mines have not been exploited,” says Ari Epstein, CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. “On the one hand, the Brazilians do not know how they have to set up the (commercial) exploitation of mines like these; on the other hand, they do not know how they have to implement the strict regulations and controls that apply to the diamond industry around the world.”

Investing in Brazil

In the context of the trade mission of Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Peter De Crem, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre is organizing a seminar about the Kimberley Process regulations, which are the guarantee that diamonds are traded legally. “Antwerp is one of the leaders as concerns application of the strict Kimberley Process regulations, and with the more than 550 years of experience as a trade center that we have to offer, Brazil is welcoming us with open arms,” says Ari Epstein. Antwerp delivers annual figures from 2014, showing commercial turnover of 58.8 billion USD.

During the mission, Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Peter De Crem will visit AWDC’s WeForest project, which is an international non-profit association committed to reforestation in areas whose natural forestation has been compromised, for example by activities from the mining industry. With the support of the AWDC, WeForest will plant 24,290 trees in an area the size of 12 football fields. Ari Epstein added, “the choice of Brazil also demonstrates how strongly we believe in this country. In 2015, Brazil will serve as the geographical priority for Antwerp as a diamond industry.”