Gold dealers urged to innovate

Viet Nam Gold Traders Association chairman Nguyen Thanh Long said last Friday that members should innovate in technology and improve designs to boost the country’s jewellery industry.

The association should start by establishing a jewellery and gemstone verification centre to test and certify members’ jewellery before gradually expanding to the whole market, Long said at the association’s annual meeting in HCM City last weekend.

The industry has been plagued by unstable quality and unhealthy competition, according to insiders.

Nguyen Van Dung, chairman of the HCM City Association of Fine Arts, Gold Jewellery and Gemstones, called for creating a quality standard for gold jewellery and carrying out more checks to ensure quality.

The general director of Phu Nhuan Jewellery Company, Cao Ngoc Dung, said the association should seek recognition for the gold and jewellery business as an industry from the Government which now treats it akin to foreign exchange.

The association asked the Government to allow further gold imports so that it can make Vietnamese jewellery competitive in the domestic and global markets.

It is estimated that gold jewellery exports were worth US$900 million in the first five months of the year. — VNS

Tags: vietnam gold, Vietnam gold market, Vietnam gold prices