The Diamond Trading Company (DTC) is the rough diamond distribution arm of the De Beers Family of Companies and is the world's largest supplier of rough diamonds, handling nearly half of the world's supply by value.
With activities in sorting, valuing and diamond beneficiation, the DTC has representative offices in the UK and South Africa, as well as joint venture operations in Botswana and Namibia with the governments of those countries.
Most DTC diamonds are sold through the London sales office. However, DTC South Africa, which is wholly owned by De Beers, sells diamonds to clients based in South Africa.
Similarly, the joint ventures DTC Botswana and Namibia DTC – 50:50 partnerships with the governments of Botswana and Namibia – sell diamonds to clients for cutting and polishing in those countries.
Formed in 1934, the DTC was established as a standalone company within the De Beers family in July 2004. Through its producer and customer value propositions, the company is focused on maintaining its position as the world’s most effective distribution channel for rough diamonds.
Sorting and valuing
The DTC’s main sorting activities are broken down into production sorting and aggregation.
Production sorting is the classification of the various sizes, shapes, colours and clarities of rough diamond into one of around 12,000 categories used by the DTC. Once the production sorting is complete the process of aggregation can begin.
Aggregation involves the blending of categories of rough diamonds like-for-like, regardless of their country of origin, then splitting these into the appropriate types and quantities to be sold to clients.
Sorting locations
The sorting of the DTC’s diamonds takes place in the following locations:
- Production sorting for South African diamonds: DTC SA (South Africa)
- Production sorting for Namibian diamonds: NDTC (Namibia)
- Production sorting for Botswanan diamonds: DTCB (Botswana)
- Production sorting for Canadian diamonds: DTC (London)
- Production sorting for Russian diamonds currently purchased from the Russian diamond mining company Alrosa: DTC (London)
Although aggregation currently takes place in the London DTC office, the process will soon move to Botswana.
Valuing
The valuing of the DTC’s rough diamonds is associated with sorting. The DTC’s sorting categories correspond to price items in the DTC price book. This means that once a diamond has been sorted into the appropriate category, it can be assigned the relevant value from the price book.