Gold & Silver standardization holds the key for design and marketing of jewellery - Colin Griffith

Mr. Griffith, the Executive Director of Gold & Precious Metals at Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and Chairman of Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) will be speaking at the two-day conference, which will be inaugurated tomorrow at the Park Hyatt hotel in Dubai.

"Standardization is crucial to every aspect of this industry, from miners to refiners, marketers, designers and finally consumers. Assurance of the quality of gold and silver is the best possible basis for the jewellery value-chain and goes a long way towards augmenting 'Bar' sales at one end of the spectrum and branded jewellery at the other," Mr. Griffith explained, ahead of his participation at the conference.

Last year DMCC launched Dubai Good Delivery (DGD), a pioneering accreditation programme, focussing on strict quality assurance of gold and silver.

"Under this programme Gold and Silver standardization took shape and today the clusters that we have built are creating enormous value," said Mr. Griffith. "In fact, currently there are 14 approved gold refiners, 13 of which are international players. DMCC is pleased that reputed international refiners that use Dubai as a market for their bars have quickly realized the benefits of DGD and this concept has metamorphosed into a trend,".

Apart from increased marketability of these products owing to standardization, the entire process has resulted in generating increased trade finance activities.

"The launch of DGD standard has paved way for the launch of future contracts in the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) and covers the delivery requirements on the exchange. This bodes well for the overall growth of these businesses. The future certainly looks bright,"

Mr. Griffith concluded.

The list of approved refiners for the Dubai Good Delivery (DGD) for gold and silver comprises names from the global gold industry spanning countries as far apart as Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Hong Kong Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland, the UAE and the USA, thereby demonstrating DMCC's international reach.

In addition to Emirates Gold DMCC from the UAE, some of the well known names include AGR Matthey Australia, KCM SA, Bulgaria, Heraeus Ltd, Hong Kong, Johnson Matthey Ltd from Hong Kong, USA and Canada, PTAntam Tbk Unit Bisnis PP Logam Mulia, from Indonesia, Matsuda Sangyo Co. Ltd, Sumitomo Metal Mining Company Ltd., and Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. from Japan, Met-Mex Penoles, SA, Mexico, Musuku Refinery and Rand Refinery Ltd, from South Africa, Argor-Heraeus SA, Metalor Technologies SA, PAMP SA and Valcambi SA from Switzerland.