Import quotas still cannot ease thirst for gold

The State Bank of Vietnam last week granted the quotas to import four tons of gold, aiming to narrow the gap between the domestic and the world’s prices. However, the imports still cannot satisfy the domestic demand, while the domestic prices are still 1.5-1.9 million dong per tael higher than the world’s prices.

Hanoians rush to purchase gold
According to Truong Cong Nhon, Deputy General Director of the Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC), SJC imported more than 500 kilos of gold last week after it got quotas for import before.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese people still have been rushing to purchase gold. By 4.30 pm of September 21, the volume of gold sold by SJC had reached 8000 taels. Nguyen Cong Tuong, a senior executive of SJC, said that some individuals purchased up to hundreds of taels of gold.

Tuong also said that the import volume of 500 kilos, or 13,300 taels, is just big enough to sell within two days, when the prices go down and people rush to buy gold. Therefore, the SJC’s imported gold has been sold out.

Gold traders say that the gap between the domestic and the world’s prices have not been narrowed, even though more gold has been imported, because the domestic demand remains high and people still queue up for buying gold.

Nguyen Thi Cuc, Deputy General Director of the Phu Nhuan Jewelry Company (PNJ), said that 2500 taels of gold were sold on September 21, while several thousands of taels were sold each day in previous days. Therefore, PNJ imported gold right after getting the quotas.

As the world’s gold price on September 22 decreased by 40 dollars per oz from the level of the previous day, the domestic price also decreased by 300,000 dong per tael to 46.65-46.82 million dong on the same day. The gap between the sale and the purchase prices has been narrowed to 150,000-200,000 dong per tael.

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Tags: vietnam gold, Vietnam gold imports, Vietnam gold market