Waldman Diamond Company

Waldman Diamond Company exports $43 million in 1999, 14th best result on Israel's 'Approved Diamond Exporters List'
January 2000

RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL - In terms of sales, 1999 was a banner year for the world diamond trade. It also was an extremely good year for the Israeli division of the Waldman Diamond Company (WDC), which almost doubled its polished diamond exports, from $23 million in 1998 to more than $43 million in 1999. These results saw the company move up from 23rd place to 14th place on the "Approved Exporters List," which is compiled by the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade and provides a de-facto ranking of the hundreds of diamond companies operating in the key diamond center.

Commenting on his company's performance, Alexander Waldman, WDC's president said, "the entire WDC team had worked very hard during the past year. I have good reason to congratulate our closely-knit team, both at the office and at the polishing plant, as well as our clients worldwide, for a job very well done."

The Israel diamond industry as a whole registered impressive figures in 1999-with net polished exports reaching $4.45 billion, an increase of 22 percent compared to 1998. In carat terms, exports rose 19 percent, from 3.46 million to 4.15 million carats.

However, Waldman, who is an independent diamond manufacturer and exporter, took care to point out that, while the figures are indeed encouraging, one should not loose perspective of the market. "We shouldn't forget the turbulence of the past several years, which was highlighted by the Asia economic crisis," he noted. "The 1999 polished diamond export was 22 percent up on 1998, but it is less than 10 percent better than the 1997 export, and just a little more than 10 percent better than the export result of 1996. Therefore, I would define the market's performance in 1999 as a decent recovery, and not necessarily a huge improvement," he stated.

"Also, our industry's dependence on the U.S. market has grown enormously. Close to 70 percent of our exports go there. And, while I believe that the U.S. market will remain strong, we should take care to invest our efforts in other markets as well," Waldman said.

In accordance with this conviction, the WDC Group announced that in January it had opened an office in Tokyo, Japan. "We have invested tremendous efforts and energy into the Far Eastern market during the past few years, and specifically at a time when the market was in a slump. Now that Japan, Hong Kong, and the other 'Asian tigers' are recuperating, we believe that the time is right for a full-service WDC office in Tokyo."

WDC is also focusing on Europe. "The potential of a pan-European market is huge, and particularly when you include the still-unrealized promise of the Central and Eastern European hinterland. With some 200 million consumers entering a period of economic growth, prosperity is not far away. That means there is still much room for growth in the diamond business," Waldman said.