Israel is known as one of the largest diamond traders in the world. The “Tel Aviv Diamond Exchange”, commonly known as “Bursa”, is the world’s largest trading complex in terms of Diamonds. It hires about 15,000 candidates from about 1,500 trading companies working and trading in Israel every year. Since the trading is related to diamonds, its buildings are always under high security and advanced security technology to keep the trading as safe as possible. The buildings exist in Ramat Gan, which is a minor distance far from central Tel Aviv. These buildings export more than 5 billion dollars of diamonds every year. It might be a surprise for a lot of people but this place is a hidden world form the public where about 45-50% of diamonds of the world pass through these buildings every single day. Tours are also available for this place however, secrecy is kept behind locked doors and the view of this complex is shown to the public.

The History of Bursa, the Diamond Exchange Industry
History of Bursa begins from the 1930s when the European Jews were undergoing abolishment on the import taxes on rough diamonds. This was done by the British Mandate government in the 1930s. For about a few years, the industry kept growing however, it was when in the 1960s, it became officially organized and developed into a trading association. In 1968, the official view to the public was opened by the very first building of this trading complex with the name “Tel Aviv Diamond Exchange.” At that time, it was the tallest building out there in Israel. After a few more years, the industry grew even further and became a huge four-tower complex. In this complex, there are over 1500 companies registered, 3000 working members, and 15,000 employees working in its center. Since the company is related to diamonds, it has its shippers, insurances, post offices, banks and much more.

How This Business Works? The bursa is known to be one of the most important components for the Israel economy in terms of GDP growth, employment opportunities, and cash flows. It’s a unique industry as many tried to copy but failed to do so, causing it to be the only one sharing about 45-50% diamonds, passing through their buildings. As for its business, what it does is that it buys rough diamonds from the diamond mines all over the world and cuts them, gives them appropriate shape, polishes them and once it’s ready, prepares to sale it for export purposes. The company maintains its position in the world by providing quality diamonds to the world.

How to visit ? A visit to this place is quite difficult as a lot of security base work is conducted here and it is always at risk to be shown to the public however if the visitors are accompanied by one of the exchange members, then they can go for a visit. To get inside, you have to pass through high security checking to make sure you are not there for theft purposes or taking secretive information. After security checking, visitors can see this complex from within, how it looks, how it functions, etc. If you want to buy diamonds directly, you can do that as well in terms of a visitor as they are diamond wholesalers. For the visitors to see diamonds, there is a small section within the complex known as “Henry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum”, where visitors get to see a beautiful and unique variety of diamonds.