In the diamond business, the city of Antwerp plays a role that is similar to that of New York in international banking and finance. For, what New York is to the money markets, Antwerp is to the global diamond trade. 

Antwerp is the diamond industry’s primary business centre, serving as the headquarters for about 1,500 diamond firms, which is the largest concentration of companies in the industry. They include rough diamond producers, rough dealers, manufacturers, and polished diamond wholesalers. Indeed, even when serious players in the industry are not based in Antwerp, almost invariably they are represented in the city. 

As the diamond industry’s business centre, Antwerp also is its major service provider. The world’s two largest diamond banks are headquartered in the city, and they are joined by other financial institutions; insurance companies; security, shipping and logistics providers; gem labs; technology and equipment suppliers; business advisors and management consultants—all within walking distance from one another, in the confines of the diamond quarter. 
 
Antwerp is the centre of the secondary or open rough diamond market. What this means is that most of the uncut stones being fed into the pipeline independently of the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) are sourced in Antwerp. But, being home to the largest concentration of De Beers’ clients, Antwerp also serves as a centre of operations for the primary rough market. As a result, diamond manufacturers the world over are dependent upon what the Belgian centre supplies, and many of them visit the city on a monthly basis.

While Antwerp mainly cuts the most valuable goods, it is very much a comprehensive cutting centre. This is because, in the global economy, manufacturing is no longer performed in a single location, but the entire operation is controlled at the nerve centre, which is Antwerp. Rough diamonds are first sorted and planned, and then dispatched from Antwerp to cutting plants across the globe. They later return as polished diamonds to be sold to the jewellery markets. Antwerp also is home to hundreds of polished wholesale offices, and of its four diamond exchanges, three primarily serve the polished diamond trade. 

The 550-year-old Antwerp Diamond Heritage is in many respects the intangible element that sets the Belgian city apart from the other diamond centres, and provides special meaning to the term “A Diamond from Antwerp.” The Antwerp Diamond Heritage denotes knowledge and experience, and trust and integrity. All of these are essential elements when dealing with a valuable product, such as a diamond.