|
Gold price gap stimulates illegal imports
Gold smuggling has been increasing since the domestic prices are much higher than the world’s prices.
The General Department of Customs on December 21 seized 25 kilos of bullion gold carried by two people on the train from Lao Cai to Hanoi. The amount of gold is equal to 655 taels, worth 28.5 billion dong.
In Vietnam, enterprises only can import only when they get the quotas from the State Bank. However, gold still has been illegally imported to Vietnam, when the domestic price is higher than the world price which can bring profits to smugglers.
Prior to that, on December 16, the customs agency of the Khanh Binh border gate joined forces with the An Giang provincial police caught red handed two people carrying 15 kilos of gold. There was no sign on the gold showing the origin of the products. The carriers said they were told to bring the gold from Anh Giang to HCM City to a private gold shop.
Gold smuggling activities have become more bustling recently, when the domestic gold market gets scorching hot with the prices always higher by 2-3 million dong per tael than the world’s prices.
Over the last two weeks, the domestic prices have been hovering around 43 million dong per tael, while the world’s price has dropped to 1600 dollars per ounce, or 40 million dong per tael.
On December 29, though the domestic price decreased significantly, SJC gold quoted by SJC was still quoted at 41.58-41.98 million dong per tael (buy and purchase), which was still higher by 2.5 million dong per tael than the world’s price.
According to Nguoi lao dong, the cross-border smuggling in October 2011 decreased when the State Bank stopped granting quotas to make bullion gold for goldsmith companies. At that time, goldsmith companies did not want smuggled bullion gold any more to process. However, the smuggling has increased recently, when blank rings are in high demand.
With the current gap prices, smugglers now can make a fat profit of one million dong per tael after paying expenses. The profit proves to be too attractive which encourage traders to break the laws to earn money.
The State Bank of Vietnam once admitted that the cross-border smuggling has become more and more popular, and that 20-40 tons of gold enter Vietnam every year through unofficial channels.
Gold quality floating
Nguoi lao dong has reported that a lot of gold shops in HCM City have stopped buying non-SJC gold products (the products with other brands, not SJC brand) for the last many weeks. After the draft decree on gold market management was made public, which says that only SJC brand gold is allowed to exist in circulation, people have refused SJC gold. Meanwhile, blank rings have become a favorite.
However, the problem is that it is very difficult to control the quality of gold blank rings, because all the enterprises can make this kind of products. There are about 12,000 gold businesses.
While bullion gold is put under the control of the State Bank which supervises the quality and grants quotas, blank rings are considered jewelries. Under the current laws, jewelries are considered as other types of products, and enterprises only have to register their business in accordance with the Enterprise Law and Commercial Law.
Experts have pointed out that the consumption of smuggled gold under the mode of blank rings will not only bring loss to buyers, but also make the market chaotic and put a hard pressure on the foreign exchange market. This explains why on the days when the price gap between the domestic and the world’s prices increase, the dollar price on the black market also fluctuates.
vietnamnet
|
