Think of precious stones and Antwerp, and the inevitable answer is diamonds. With a more than 500-year heritage, the city's everyday life and, indeed, its fate, is closely intertwined with that of the diamond business, the Antwerp Facets portal writes.
What is perhaps less well known is that the diamond city also has an active coloured gemstones business, and it has been operating in the city of diamonds for many generations. For buyers there is, therefore, a double advantage to trading in Antwerp: not only does it offer a huge selection of rough and polished diamonds, but also the opportunity to purchase coloured gemstones as well.
Although the coloured gemstones is small compared to the diamond industry, it is, nonetheless, a thriving business with industry estimates putting the number of companies involved in the gemstone business at around 100.
The coloured stone market is not new in Antwerp, explains Eddy Claessens, vice president of the Federation of Precious Stones. "For hundreds of years, Antwerp has been a centre for coloured stones. The trade in coloured stones has the same channels as the diamond trade.”
"Prospective customers for diamonds can also buy coloured stones in Antwerp, where they enjoy the same safe area in the diamond district, with all the facilities needed in terms of banks, transport, insurance, and a federation with accredited members, dealing in these coloured stones."
Claessens said the most popular coloured stones still remain ruby, sapphire and emerald. However, other stones, such as quartz, aquamarine, tourmaline, amethyst, topaz are traded as well, although they clearly command a much lower carat value. He believes the financial crisis that struck at the end of 2008 and the recession it brought on provided a reason for consumers to buy these less expensive stones in jewellery instead of the precious ones due to the lower price points available.
He said that ruby and sapphire stones are imported from Thailand, while Sri Lanka and Australia provide commercial sapphires, rubies come from Mozambique and Tanzania, and emeralds are imported from African countries, as well as Colombia and Brazil. "As most of these countries have their own cutting industries, we normally buy the finished stones in these countries of production.”
"This is a big difference compared with diamonds, where we buy the rough material. Therefore, we have more wholesalers than manufacturers. Recutting can and is done in Antwerp. The customers for our stones can be the same as those for diamonds. Since they come to Antwerp to purchase diamonds, they also buy precious stones," Claessens said.
He says the "Edelstenenfederatie," or Federation of Precious Stones, gives support to its members, organises a "Precious Stones Conference" with well-known speakers from all over the world, in addition to organising business weeks and giving information to jewellers. "As there are a lot of imitation stones and synthetic stones on the market, we try to inform the trade as much as possible in order to give them confidence in these wonderful stones," Claessens added.
Another dealer said that the strength of the coloured gemstone industry stemmed from the fact that it was closely connected to the fashion world. "When a particular colour for clothes becomes fashionable then coloured gemstone designers are able to work with stones that can complement that colour. In that sense, coloured stones can be more versatile than diamonds which are normally white. They can also be at lower price points, as well, although, of course, there is a wide range of diamond colours and there are companies who take white diamonds and create coloured stones."
Michel Suchlowolski, president of the Guild of Diamonds and Precious Stones, says that the precious stones industry has been operating in Antwerp for many years, but that there are only three cutting and polishing factories left in the city. Suchlowolski has been in the diamond and precious stones business for 25 years in the company originally established by his father in 1963.
"There are about 70 companies involved in the precious stones industry in Antwerp, although they are also working with diamonds," he said, adding that the guild of which he is president has 50-60 members. "Stones of 80 points and above are polished in Antwerp. They come from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar and Africa already polished, but they are very often re-polished in Antwerp to get even more out of the gem and to add value to them. Antwerp also sees gemstones from the Indian stone centre of Jaipur.”
Suchlowolski said the industry has picked up following the financial crisis and the recession that followed. "It affected the industry, of course, but it must be remembered that a nice precious stone with good quality and size is not easy to find so there is always demand for them. As with diamonds, buyers are looking for certificates for precious gemstones."
Suchlowolski expects the industry to stay around the same size in the future. "It could grow because people are always asking for precious stones, and so there is a place in Antwerp for dealers and others who work in the trade. Members of the global diamond trade come to buy diamonds in Antwerp so if they are looking for precious stones they can find them here as well and buy them. They may end up paying a little more than they would pay in Thailand, for example for gemstones, but they can get all their gemstone needs serviced in Antwerp and save themselves time and expense by not having to make additional visits to other centres."
