First Chinese Retailer Joins GIA’s M2M

RAPAPORT… Chinese retailer Laelim Jewelry and Belgian manufacturer IGC
Group will collaborate to test the Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) M2M
traceability program.


Laelim is the first Chinese jeweler to participate in the project, it said last week. The two companies are also the first retailer-manufacturer duo to
use the program, which tracks diamonds from mine to market, the
GIA noted. M2M will record the journey of a select number of Laelim’s
GIA-graded stones from mine to IGC, where polishing will occur, and then on to Laelim’s retail
stores.


“Since launching in 2017, we have seen an increase in the
interest of the program,” said Tom Moses, executive vice president and chief
laboratory and research officer at the GIA. “Consumer demands are shifting and
provenance is becoming an important topic in the buying process.”



Russian miner Alrosa and Botswana government-owned rough
supplier Okavango Diamond Company are among the businesses that have piloted M2M
since its launch at the JCK Las Vegas show last year.


Image: Polished diamonds. (Shutterstock)