More traders to be licensed to import gold

More banks and gold traders will be given licences to import gold in an effort to stabilise the market, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam.

Four out of the eight units currently licensed to import gold have imported only one-third of the permitted volume.

The bank will allow imports during a two-week period in which gold traders will have time to consider the most optimal time to import gold and minimise risks.

After the central bank made its recent announcement, the gold price on the domestic market fell sharply by VND400,000 to VND35.85 million per tael last Saturday. (A tael is equivalent to 1.2 ounces.)

Nguyen Thi Cuc, deputy general director of Phu Nhuan Jewellery Joint Stock Company, said gold transactions at the company’s shop chain dropped significantly.

Last Friday, the company sold about 1,000 taels and bought 600 taels, much lower compared with previous days, Cuc said.

Independent market analysts said that the central bank’s new gold import plan had been caused by a recent bout of feverish gold trading and soaring prices, multiplying many times in the past week alone.

After collecting information from various sources, the central bank decided to assign gold import quotas for a number of new gold traders with stable foreign reserves in order to change the prevailing market psychology, they said. — VNS

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