Botswana's national diamond firm, Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) is planning to diversify how it distributes the precious stones to the market as it prepares to receive much more supply under a new sales agreement recently signed with Anglo American's De Beers.
"ODC auctions are too big and need to be optimised," ODC managing director Mmetla Masire was quoted by Reuters as saying.
"We also need to de-risk the business and support other customers that want alternative selling channels."
He said while ODC is not moving away from the open tender model, the new channel should complement and work in parallel with auctions.
"We are not shifting away from the auction channel, we are looking at running the auction and adding another channel to complement and work in parallel with auctions," said Masire.
De Beers chief executive Al Cook said ODC will have the right to sell directly to clients in a manner not possible in the past.
"In practical terms, that does provide a structure for ensuring that we get rid of the peaks and troughs that characterise selling by tender or auction," he was also quoted as saying by Reuters.
Currently, ODC auctions off 25% of the stones generated by Debswana, a joint venture between the Botswana government and De Beers.
ODC's share of rough stones from Debswana will increase to 50% over the next decade under the new agreement.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
