Antwerp Diamond Day celebrated

SHANGHAI - One in every two polished diamonds from Antwerp will likely be sold to a Chinese buyer within five years, Belgian officials said on Monday as the Shanghai Expo celebrated Antwerp Diamond Day with the signing of a new memorandum between the two sides.

"China has the numbers and they are building the tradition, so (taking a 50-percent share of our market) is something that could easily happen within five years," Ludo Van Campenhout, vice-mayor of Antwerp, told China Daily.

As one of Europe's gem hubs, the city deals with half the world's output of polished diamonds, meaning that China could control at least 25 percent of the global market by 2015.