Dollar's decline an ongoing concern, but remains trading currency of choice: 'we commenced trade with U.S. dollars 40 years ago. is it time for a change in currency?'.

That international trade could take place in anything but the U.S. dollar is unthinkable to anyone under pension age. It has been the global trading currency since at least the Second World War, so why should there be a movement to change to another currency or asset class?

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After all, commodities are denominated in dollars, and the American currency serves as the world s reserve currency. At times of geopolitical fears, investors flock to the dollar, along with gold, in a flight to safety. But the ongoing decline of the U.S. dollar over the last half decade or so has rattled some international traders, economists and politicians.

Those worries were compounded by the financial crisis that struck the United States in late 2008, and the seeming inability of the United States to create a full-blown economic recovery. They seem to have placed a question mark above the green-back, with some investors asking whether its days numbered.

But could an alternative currency or an international reserve asset take its place? And what has been the impact on the diamond trade from the steep decline in the value of the dollar against currencies across the world?

The drop in value of the dollar has led financial strains in both the upstream and downstream areas of the diamond pipeline. Mining companies operating in countries such as South Africa and Canada have seen their currencies perform strongly against the dollar, thereby receiving less money for their diamonds while having to pay workers, mining and other costs in more expensive rands and Canadian dollars.

As with most …