You are here

In Vietnam, gold sales are down but premiums are up

Section: Daily Dispatches

Gold Loses Shine in Vietnam as Retail Sales Slump

From Thanh Nien News
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Monday, August 18, 2014

http://www.thanhniennews.com/business/gold-loses-shine-in-vietnam-as-ret...

Gold purchases by retail customers in Vietnam, the world's seventh-largest gold consumer, fell 42 percent year-on-year to 19.3 tons in the April-June quarter, according to the latest World Gold Council report.

Gold bar sales dropped to 16.5 tons, down 45 percent from the second quarter of 2013 while jewelry purchases hit 2.8 tons, down 17 percent.

... Dispatch continues below ...



ADVERTISEMENT

Free Storage with BullionStar in Singapore Until 2016

BullionStar is a Singapore-registered company with a one-stop bullion shop, showroom, and vault at 45 New Bridge Road in Singapore.

BullionStar's solution for storing bullion in Singapore is called My Vault Storage. With My Vault Storage you can store bullion in BullionStar's bullion vault, which is integrated with BullionStar's shop and showroom, making it a convenient one-stop-shop for precious metals in Singapore.

Customers can buy, store, sell, or request physical withdrawal of their bullion through My Vault Storage® online around the clock. Storage is FREE until 2016 and will have the most competitive rates in the industry thereafter.

For more information, please visit Bullion Star here:

https://www.bullionstar.com/



Vietnamese investors have tended to store gold as a hedge against inflation. However, with an improving economy and slowing inflation, many are seeking to invest in stocks and property or simply to collect deposit interest, Vietnam News Agency quoted Nguyen Thanh Long, Chairman of the Vietnam Gold Traders Association, as saying.

Vietnam's gold investment market remains under state control, with gold bars auctioned by the central bank at regular intervals.

"2014 has seen a pause in the schedule of the central bank's gold auctions, causing a supply squeeze that has kept the domestic price premium high at around US$100-150/oz [more than global prices]," the World Gold Council said in its report.

"As a result, interest in chi rings (plain, gold rings with low markups) as an investment proxy remains high and will increase if tight supply conditions persist in the bar market," the council continued, adding that "unofficial flows continue to supplement the official supply."

Domestic gold prices stood at VND36.62 million ($1,721) a tael by roughly noon on August 18, up around 5.7 percent compared with early January. A tael equals to 1.2 ounces.

The World Gold Council ranked Vietnam as the world's seventh largest gold consumer last year with 92.2 tons worth $4.16 billion, up 20 percent versus 2012.

* * *

Join GATA here:

Casey Research 2014 Summit
Hill Country Resort and Spa
San Antonio, Texas
Friday-Sunday, September 19-21, 2014

http://www.caseyresearch.com/summit/2014-fall

New Orleans Investment Conference
Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
Wednesday-Saturday, October 22-25, 2014

https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/noic2014?IDPromotion=614011014520...

* * *

Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006:

http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

http://gata.org/tshirts

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16