By Alois Vinga

INDIAN diamond processors have urged the Zimbabwe to consider scrapping the reserve price on its diamonds and, instead, come up with a flexible system, it has emerged.

The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) of India made representations on the matter during meetings with Zimbabwe’s deputy industry minister Rajesh Modi who was recently in the Asian country.

In business terms, a reserve price is the minimum amount sellers will accept for their products at auction.

GJEPC is pushing for the change on the basis that most of Zimbabwe’s rough diamonds are consumed in their market.

As such, there is need to work towards mutually agreed prices reflecting the actual value of gems as opposed to reserve pricing which they believe could be much higher.

“We have requested the Zimbabwean government to work out a mechanism wherein diamond evaluation is done with the assistance of GJEPC because the majority of the gems from this country end up in Surat, so the pricing policy agreed on by the two entities will benefit both countries,” GJEPC regional chairperson, Dinesh Navadiya said. 

Deputy minister Modi promised to engage the Harare government on the matter.

“I have come to explore bilateral trade opportunities with India especially Surat, we have noted the issues faced by diamond importers here and they will be put at the highest level of the government.

“We are pretty sure that things will changes for the good of both countries,” he said.

Zimbabwe extracts 1.7 million carats of rough diamonds a year and has set a target of 5 million carats to be extracted in the coming years.