36 tons of gold exported in first six months

It is estimated that 36 tonnes of gold have been exported in the first six months of the year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

According to GSO figures released on June 24, the export revenue of precious metals, precious stones and products reached $350 million in June 2010. As such, June is the second consecutive month with high export revenue in this category.

The export revenue of such materials saw a sharp increase to $884 million. Previously, it was just tens of millions of dollars each month.

GSO asserts that $1.343 billion worth of precious metal, precious stone and products have been exported so far this year. With an average gold price at $1200 per ounce and considering that export revenues are mainly from gold exports, it is estimated that some 36 tons of gold have been exported.

Among the 26 categories of products that have been put into GSO calculations, precious metal products are one of the nine categories of products with revenue of one billion dollars and higher. As such, with exports of other key products such as rice, footwear and garments, gold exports have made a considerable contribution to the increase of the export revenue and the trade balance.

Huynh Trung Khanh, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Gold Traders’ Association (VGTA) and advisor to the World Gold Council in Vietnam, remarked that the high revenue brought by gold exports should be viewed as a good signal for the national economy.

“Vietnam only imported 7-8 tons of gold earlier this year, while it has exported a volume much higher than that imported,” he explained. “This shows that Vietnam has been profiting from import deals and that exports could bring a high sum of foreign currencies to Vietnam.”

According to Khanh’s calculations based on import and export volumes, the volume of gold held privately is estimated at 300-400 tons.

Gold traders noted that opportunities to export gold come when the gold price in the world market increases rapidly, while the domestic price does not increase in tandem.

According to Nguyen Thi Cuc, Deputy General Director of Phu Nhuan Jewellery Company (PNJ), when the domestic price is lower by 150,000-200,000 dong per tael than the world market price, enterprises can export gold for profit.

A gold expert observed that Vietnam’s gold export products are now mostly raw jewelry products and that Europe remains the main export market. “The countries purchase Vietnam’s jewelry products to make bar gold. Meanwhile, Asian countries do not import Vietnam’s jewelry products,” the expert determined.

There has been a big change in the public’s thinking about gold nowadays. People sell gold when prices rise and they have restricted purchasing gold since the beginning of 2010. Several days ago, when the gold price reached 28.75 per tael, big goldsmith companies reported that they mostly purchased gold, but made very modest sales.

According to Khanh, there are two reasons behind this. Firstly, gold deposit interest rates have decreased, so people do not buy gold for deposit at banks. Secondly, since the gold price is high, people rush to sell their gold and earn cash, which they then invest in other channels like savings, real estate or stocks.

Tags: vietnam gold, Vietnam gold exports, Vietnam gold market