Mail and Guardian - Apr 16,1999
De Beers stops SA diamond exports
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 6.30pm
DE BEERS, the world's biggest diamond producer, has frozen
its diamond exports from South Africa because of a dispute
with the state's diamond board, the company announced on
Friday. The dispute ensued when the Government Diamond Valuator
rejected De Beers' evaluation of a consignment of rough
diamonds due to be exported to its Central Selling
Organisation in London, Tracy Peterson, a spokeswoman for
De Beers said.
The GDV said the value of the consignment -- and hence the
tax liability -- was higher than that submitted by De Beers and,
in an unprecedented move, refused to issue an export permit
for it.
The dispute has developed into a deadlock between De Beers
and the Diamond Board, over the methods used by the GDV
-- which the board appointed in November -- as well as its
function in the industry.
"De Beers and the GVD cannot agree on the methods used to
evaluate our diamonds. We have 14 000 categories by which
we class our diamonds. He is disputing the categories into
which we put diamonds," Peterson said.
"If we cannot agree on one consignment we cannot agree on
other ones," she added. "It has effectively stopped the export
of De Beers diamonds until the dispute is cleared." She said De
Beers has not exported any diamonds "for about three weeks."
The standoff between the company and the diamond board this
week led to a meeting between De Beers MD Gary Ralfe and
Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Penuell Maduna.
Maduna subsequently set up a task team to investigate the
issue, giving them until the end of next week to report back to
him.
Peterson declined to say how big the frozen consignment is.
Economists said Friday that the impasse is unlikely to result in a
shortage of diamonds for the CSO, the marketing arm through
which De Beers regulates diamond prices by controlling the
supply of diamonds to the market. -- AFP
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