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More people hoard yellow metal
Gold companies and jewellers think that large quantities of gold are being hoarded by individuals.
Cao Thi Ngoc Dung, general director of the Phu Nhuan Jewellery Company (PNJ), estimates this at around 800 tonnes worth 24 billion USD at current rates.
Even accounting for the gold smuggled out of the country, the quantity is not less than 700 tonnes, gold companies said.
Around 500 tonnes were legally imported while the rest is contraband or gold held for many years, Dung said.
There are no officials figurers for the total quantity of gold imported so far, but consumption levels have been surging in the last few years, with imports topping 70 tonnes a year, according to gold companies.
Since Saigon Jewelry Holding Company (SJC), one of the country’s leading gold importers, launched its SJC gold bars in 1998, it has sold 11.7 million taels, or almost 439 tonnes.
Besides, bars sold by other gold companies are also available in the market and hoarded. Gold companies also estimate that 200 tonnes of gold have been used to make jewellery which is owned by people.
With international prices climbing, the General Statistics Office said gold exports were worth 2.3 billion USD in the first quarter, up 49 percent over the same period last year.
The State Bank of Vietnam has allotted quotas to several companies to export gold, a move hailed by analysts who said it would bring in foreign currency.
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