|
Gold traders say it’s the right time to import gold
Right after the State Bank of Vietnam granted quotas to import gold late last week, a lot of gold trading companies said that they are considering importing gold immediately, when the prices are good and promise profitable deals.
In the afternoon of January 7, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) unexpectedly granted quotas to import gold to a series of enterprises and banks. Unlike previous times, when the central bank’s quotas were only valid for several days (Enterprises had to import gold within several days since the quotas were allocated), this time enterprises have two months to import gold. the volume allowed to be imported this time is not as small as in the previous times. Every enterprise has been granted the quota to import up to 500 kilogrammes.
The enterprises which have been granted quotas to import gold include Phu Nhuan Jewellery Company (PNJ), Sacombank Jewellery Company SBJ, Asia Commercial Bank’s (ACB) Gold Centre, and Agribank’s Jewellery Company.
Most of the gold companies said that the current world prices are now favorable. With the current dong/dollar exchange rate, the domestic price is now 700,000-900,000 dong per tael higher than the world price. Meanwhile, according to Tran Trong Quoc Khanh, Director of ACB’s Gold Centre, the difference of 300,000 dong per tael between the domestic and the world prices would be big enough to bring profit to importers.
Meanwhile, the gold price in the world market has been on the decrease. Now, one ounce of gold is trading at around $1370, much lower than the peak of $1432 per ounce seen on December 7. the gold price shows a short-term tendency to decrease, according to Do Minh Phu, General Director of Doji. Currently, Doji is also beginning to import gold.
However, gold companies all say they will not hurry to import the maximum allowed volume right now. They will only import a part of the allowed volume in the immediate time. Khanh from ACB Gold Centre said that enterprises still need to consider many factors, including the market supply and demand, people’s psychology and the world prices before making final decisions on the right time to import.
Similarly, the Phu Nhuan Jewellery Company has imported a part of the allowed volume in order to offset the volume sold last week. The purchasing power last week was relatively strong, when the domestic gold price decreased slightly. Phu Nhuan reportedly sold 3000 taels, while it sells 2000 taels per day on normal days.
The gold Phu Nhuan imports is scheduled to arrive in Vietnam later this week. the company said that it will consider importing more gold in the time to come.
The decision by the central bank to grant quotas to import gold has been applauded by all enterprises, which say that the move will help ease the pressure on the supply and demand and stabilize the market at the time when the domestic gold price is higher than the world price.
Commenting on the recent moves, Khanh said that the latest policies show the openness in the viewpoint on gold, considering it a kind of foreign currency, not the culprit behind the high inflation. The gold import tariff has been slashed to zero percent, while import quotas has become more flexible.
Meanwhile, Do Minh Phu noted that the long validity of the granted quotas will allow enterprises to take initiative in arranging foreign currencies needed for their imports. Therefore, the gold import will not have negative impacts on the black foreign currency market.
For a long time, people believe that the gold imports were the main reason which pushed the dollar price up, because enterprises, when trying to arrange to dollars on the black market, thus causing the increasing demand.
Experts believe that the world gold price will continue increasing in 2011 after the 2010 full of ups and downs, with the price once reaching the record high of $1432 per ounce. many experts believe that this is still not the peak and the price record will be soon broken in 2011.
Phu from Doji said that in principle, the gold price does not increase in the first six months of year. However, in 2011, if the Korean war breaks out and the debts in Europe cannot be settled, the gold price will still keep its upstream in the long term.
vietnamnet
|
