The G7 doesn't have the relevant technology to trace the origin of roughs despite its plan to route the global diamond supplies through Belgium to verify if it's Russian or not, Jagdishbhai Khunt, the President of Surat Diamond Association (SDA), has told Sputnik India.
"Even the G7 doesn’t have such technology. They have no means of detecting if the diamonds came from Russia, Africa, or Canada for that matter. They might be working on such a technology, but they don’t have it yet,” remarked Khunt.
Khunt underlined that it became "very difficult" to trace the origin of a processed diamond after it had been cut or polished.
Further, he underscored that the G7 ban on Russian diamonds processed in third countries, which kicked in on 1 March, only applied to roughs weighing over a carat (equivalent to nearly 0.2 gram).
“There has been no problem in importing diamonds from Alrosa till now. Most of them are slim and weigh below a carat,” Khunt revealed.
The remarks by the Surat Diamond Association chief come against the backdrop of G7 plan to establish Belgium as a "rough node" for global rough diamonds in order to verify their origins.
The 12th round of G7 sanctions rolled out this year calls for banning imports of Russian-origin diamonds processed in third countries from 1 March, a decision that has created uncertainty in the Surat industry which has majorly relied on rough imports from Alrosa and exported the processed product to markets such as the US.
The G7 has called for establishing a "robust traceability-based verification and certification mechanism for rough diamonds” to vet the origin of diamonds.
As reported by Sputnik India, such a mechanism would require routing around two-thirds of global diamond supplies through Antwerp, which risks significantly increase inputs costs for traders and end prices for customers.