In early February 2009, it became known that the largest producers of rough diamonds - De Beers, ALROSA, Hungary Billiton, Rio Tinto and Harry Winston Diamond Corp. - intend to implement a joint marketing project "Generic Diamond Marketing". Any significant details of this initiative by the participants are not disclosed yet, it is announced only about the creation of SteeringCom (SteerCom) and the involvement of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company to develop a mechanism for financing the project.

Marketing is a loose concept, and SteerCom's activities can be limited to conducting diamond advertising campaigns, but it can also form the basis for consultations of leading diamond manufacturers aimed at returning the diamond market to its "canonical form" - to monopoly regulation of raw material prices. In this case, the five largest diamond companies will act as a kind of "collective De Beers", or, if you will, the "diamond OPEC". This is a radical solution, in comparison with which all other options look more or less successful palliatives, leading only to a short-term galvanization of the market, but not capable of ensuring its stable development for the next few decades.

Indeed, any advertising campaign for diamonds, no matter in which countries it is conducted and for whatever strata it is designed, can not but contain the thesis about the increasing in time cost of diamonds. Any motive of acquiring a diamond - as a symbol of social status, as a gift of love or even more as an investment tool - simply excludes the possibility of a prolonged and noticeable drop in its value. The existence of a market for permanently cheaper diamonds is probably possible in a very short time, with a very costly advertising effort aimed at convincing the consumer that prices will soon turn. This practice is extremely dangerous, Because deceiving the expectations thus formed will mean the rapid destruction of the diamond market with unpredictable consequences. But the history of the "diamond pipeline" does not know another mechanism for a guaranteed increase in the price of diamonds, except as a monopoly on rough diamonds. It would be incorrect to say that the rejection of the monopoly regulation of the diamond market served as the sole cause of his current deplorable state, but at the same time it is obvious that " Supplier of Choice" is not a strategy that will surely push off from today's bottom.

The financial condition of each company from the "big diamond five" is far from ideal today. De Beers resorts to large-scale layoffs and reduces production, the market capitalization of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton has fallen by more than 50% over the past year, the expected merger of these mining giants has not taken place, the companies announced a significant reduction in personnel engaged in diamond mining and production Of rough diamonds. At the Diavik deposit (the joint property of Harry Winston Diamond Corp. and Rio Tinto), due to lack of funds, the construction of the underground mine is significantly delayed and staff is being reduced. Alrosa can still be considered a happy exception to this gloomy list, as Gokhran buys its products through budgetary funds.

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