Diamond Cartel
By Myron Gushlak
There's a fascinating article in the Economist this month about the changing face of the diamond industry. Apparently the DeBeers diamond cartel has loosened its grip on the industry to allow competition (aka appease European regulators). DeBeers has also pledged to stop buying "blood diamonds" and has invested heavily in chains of jewelry stores and in new exploration in Canada -- so much for my long held belief that our greatest export was really great bacon!
DeBeers is also facing competition from man-made diamonds. I'm not sure why these have not caught on yet. I've heard that they are indistinguishable from normal diamonds other than that they have no flaws and only come in yellow.
The article can be found at:
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8743058