Are Diamonds Forever? Antwerp, World Diamond Centre – but for how much longer?
(Ewald Pironet) The Low Countries - 2007, № 15, pp. 46-51
Take a walk around Antwerp's diamond district, and all seems to be peace and tranquillity. In the three streets by the Central Station where the diamond trade is concentrated, Belgian-Jewish, Indian and other diamond dealers are going briskly about their business. They all have the same aim: to buy and sell diamonds and make as much profit from it as they can. And that seems to be going well. But appearances can be deceptive. Among the smaller diamond dealers more and more shutters are staying closed. Never before has there been so much bickering among the Antwerp diamond dealers. And Antwerp's position as an international diamond centre is under greater pressure than ever before from the increasing competition from Dubai, in the Arab world, and Mumbai, in India. ‘Diamonds are forever', as the saying goes, but can the same be said of Antwerp as the world's diamond centre?
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