Gold market is on the rise

An employee of an SJC gold bar trading establishment performs transaction procedures with a customer. Photo: VL

SJC gold card scarcity

For the past two weeks, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuoc (Vinh Dien Ward, Dien Ban) has gone to Da Nang to buy gold five times but still returned empty-handed. It is known that last year, Mr. Phuoc borrowed 5 taels of SJC gold from a relative to repair his house, and now the repayment deadline has come, so he has to find this type of gold card (gold bar). At the SJC stores that Mr. Phuoc visited, they all shook their heads and said they were out of gold.

“The first time they said they only had plain rings and gold jewelry left, and asked me to leave my phone number and they would contact me when they had gold bars,” Mr. Phuoc said. After waiting for a few days without hearing anyone call, he returned to the store but still had none, even the gold rings were out. At every SJC store in Da Nang that Mr. Phuoc visited, they were all informed that they were out of gold cards.

SJC gold is a type of gold produced by Saigon Jewelry Holding Company. SJC gold stands out from many other gold brands because it is cast in rectangular pieces.

On the surface of the SJC gold bar is printed a dragon and 4 number 9 representing 99.99% pure gold. The advantage of SJC gold is the variety of products, the system of stores and agents distributed throughout the provinces and cities across the country. In particular, the quality of the products is guaranteed because SJC gold bars have been selected as the State's gold brand.

v(1).jpg — SJC gold is a state-owned gold brand and has limited quantity. Photo: VL

Since the beginning of the year, gold prices have been increasing continuously, but the number of people trading is still quite large. Notably, over the past month, SJC gold bars have suddenly become scarce, especially the 1-chi, 2-chi and 5-chi types.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (a gold shop owner in Dien Ban) commented that the shortage of SJC gold bars is due to many reasons. Besides some investors, we cannot ignore the factor of businesses "holding goods" and being slow to bring them to the market.

"People often think that SJC gold is more guaranteed in quality and has a strong brand, so it is easier to liquidate when buying and selling, so they prefer to keep SJC gold," Mr. Hung analyzed.

With the regulation that SJC Company is not licensed to produce gold bars but only conducts business and trading activities, the number of SJC gold bars on the market is limited.

Since the end of 2023, gold prices have continuously reached new peaks. If on the occasion of the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin, the selling price of SJC gold bars was about 76 million VND per tael, by April it had reached 85 million VND, even reaching a record of more than 92 million VND in May and currently fluctuating around 90 million VND.

To stabilize the gold market, from April 22, the State Bank began calling for bids for SJC gold bars. After 9 auctions (6 successful), more than 48 thousand taels of gold bars were released into the market by the regulator.

However, the more the auctions are held, the higher the gold price increases. Some opinions say that the high floor price of the auctions makes the stabilization effect not as expected. This is also the reason why on May 27, the State Bank stopped the auction of gold bars.

Gold ring business is difficult

While SJC gold is scarce, on the contrary, 96%, 98%, 9999 gold (generally called plain gold rings and jewelry) is consumed quite slowly. Through research at some gold shops in the province, most said that business activities are not as good as last year.

Plain gold ring business is slow. Photo: VL

According to Mr. Le Van Ngoc - owner of a gold shop in Hoi An City, these days he sells an average of 1 - 1.5 taels of gold per day. Apart from a few people withdrawing money from banks to buy gold for investment, most people buy gold mainly for parties and weddings.

“The economy is in trouble, real estate transactions are down, so people don’t have money or the need to buy and sell gold. Only in months with many weddings will gold sales be a little faster,” said Mr. Ngoc.

In addition, the launch of inspections of gold origin by relevant agencies has also affected the gold ring business, especially the amount of gold previously purchased from the people.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, the central government's regulations on the origin of gold in recent times have been very inadequate, because not all people who sell gold bring invoices and related documents, not to mention many jewelry, gold and silver are obtained through inheritance, gifts or purchased decades ago...

"Of course, most of the gold we import from the company has a clear invoice of origin, but there are also some cases where we buy from the people, not everyone has documents proving the origin, so trading is already difficult, now it is even more difficult" - Mr. Hung explained.

According to Mr. Luong Viet Tinh - Director of the Quang Nam Market Management Department, inspecting and checking the origin of gold is necessary, because in reality, most gold bought and sold has a mark on the product so the origin can be determined.

From May 20 to 25, the Quang Nam Market Management Department sent officers to join the interdisciplinary delegation of the State Bank of Vietnam to inspect gold trading establishments in the province. The unit is currently waiting for the results report.

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