"We'll have 263 IDE members on the floor showing their goods. This promises a great deal of variety and choice," says IDE General Manager Moti Besser.
While most of the Israel diamond industry is taking a much needed break for summer, at the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE), the organizing committee is completing the master plan for the Summer Edition of the International Diamond Week in Israel (IDWI), which will open on August 30.
"A few days ago, we drew up the final list of participating companies which will be exhibiting polished diamonds on the IDE's trading floor," said Moti Besser, the exchange's General Manager.
"We'll have 263 IDE members on the floor showing their goods. This promises a great deal of variety and choice."
Besser noted that the exchange is again trying to create more diverse and exciting business opportunities during the IDWI. Currently, the IDE board is considering allowing a group of rough diamond traders - smaller operators who do not usually participate in international trade shows, to show their goods on the floor during the event.
"The format of the IDWI is particularly beneficial for smaller operations that do not have the logistics to participate in international shows," Besser explained.
Israel Diamond Exchange President Shmuel Schnitzer said that while most of the diamond business was still conducted in the offices of the exchange, the trading floor was making a comeback. "We have just held a monthly 'Blue-White Fair Day' during which companies came down to the trading floor to trade with other IDE members.
"The feedback of the inaugural 'Blue-White Trading Day' has been absolutely fantastic and this 'back-to-basics' exercise has proven its point. And the upcoming International Diamond Week will give an early indication of where the market is heading ahead of the holiday sales season," Schnitzer added .
The International Diamond Week in Israel is organized by the Israel Diamond Exchange, in close cooperation with the Diamond Dealers Club of New York (DDC), the Antwerp Diamond Bourse (Beurs voor Diamanthandel), and, for the first time, also by the Bharat Diamond Bourse. All exchanges will be represented by delegations of their members on the IDE trading floor in August.
