07 Dec 2021

The Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) has reportedly earned the government of Botswana a seat at the table within the global diamond industry.

Briefing  the media on the company’s business performance in Gaborone on Monday, Chairperson of ODC Board, Dr Gape Kaboyakgosi said since ODC started trading as part of the broader strategy for the expansion of Botswana’s diamond industry in 2013, it had contributed to the emerging phaseof the country’s diamond industry in the world.

 

Based on its strong five-year- strategy, he said ODC’s future impact on the domestic economy, as well as a player globally,could not be over emphasised.

Dr Kaboyakgosi said the company would empower citizens in the broadest terms, as well as impact immensely on foreign reserves and contribute to tax revenue.

He said the company intended to pursue a regional diamond aggregation strategy, allowing smaller regional mining houses, a solid globally credible sales channel for diamonds.

“This will position Botswana as a hub for all things diamond and not simply as a significant extractive location, as is the current narrative. Besides DeBeers, no other company in Africa has the capability to deliver on and leverage this opportunity,” he said.

Dr Kaboyakgosi further explained that, through greater allocation of Debswana’s run of mine; continued independent rough sales; benefits of provenance; Botswana’s hand will be strengthened in the global context.

Meanwhile, ODC’s Managing Director, Mr Mmetla Masire said for the first eight months of the current year 2021, the company’s diamond sales revenues exceeded US$830 million, which is a 484 per cent increase compared to the 2020 sales revenue of US$181 million (a 48 per cent decline from US$371 million sales revenue in 2019).

 Mr Masire said there was a decline in diamond sales in 2020, mainly due to several cancelled sales and ODC not generating any revenue since the end of March 2020, as markets showed signs of uncertainty, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the company started 2020 on precarious grounds, which was unfortunate, given that 2019 was also a weak trading year for the industry.

He said as a key player in rough diamond trading in the world, the company, remained healthy and demand throughout the diamond pipeline remains robust, with slight softening in some categories of diamonds.

Mr Masire explained that the overall liquidity was generally good, and as a state-owned entity, the company believed that the healthy trend was positive news, given the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 “As you are all aware, our diamonds are sourced from Debswana, Botswana’s flagship diamond mining company, that accounts for over 98 per cent of Botswana’s diamond production. Therefore, when Debswana sneezes, ODC catches a cold; we are therefore, relieved and happy to see that Debswana has recently increased production and look forward to future increases,” he enthused.

Mr Masire said ODC continued to be very careful in managing its diamond inventory, to ensure that they were not encumbered by excessive stock, which is difficult to sell in a downward market.

He emphasised that the company had so far been making the right decisions to protect the long-term sustainability of its business.

“Prior to the government lockdown, ODC started pre-emptively planning its business continuity framework to handle the COVID-19 situation, while helping generate sustainable economic benefits for Botswana and Batswana,” he said, adding that ODC’s vision was to be the world leader in the sales and marketing of natural diamonds, emphasising that as a team, they were excited by the journey ahead of them. ends