Gold import increases by 60% in April-June 2011

19 Aug 2011 Evaluate

Despite the increasing gold price in the international and domestic market, demand for the yellow metal has maintained its upward trend. In April-June 2011, India’s imports of gold increased by 60%. However, the demand for jewellery declined, which indicate that most of the imports have been done for investment purpose. 

In April-June 2011, the gold imports stood at 267 tonne, which increased by 100 tonnes from last year. This increase in the import of yellow metal was led by increase in demand for bars, coins and gold ETFs which increased by 78% or 108.5 tonne. On the other hand, the jewellery demand increased by 17% to 139.8 tonne as the average price of gold increased to Rs 22,200 per 10 gram from Rs 18,028 last year.   

Ajay Mitra, MD (India & Middle East), World Gold Council (WGC) said, 'A consumer can buy smaller denominations of coins or bars but can't buy a fraction of a bangle or a necklace, which attributed to the increase in gold demand despite the surge in the prices, consumers prefer gold over other products like television sets, refrigerators or even cars at the time of increasing cost of funds and high inflation. By adding further he said, 'instead, the investible amount is being used to buy gold, which has been yielding higher returns than bank deposits and using the returns to purchase consumer durables or automobiles when inflation slows down.'

Gold imports for the current year would exceed last year’s record of 958 tonne, depending on how the Q3 ending of September pans out. Jewellery demand during the first half of the current year accounted for over half of the previous year's jewellery consumption of 656 tonne and was expected to pick up in the second half which has more marriages and festivals lined up than the first half, Ajay Mitra pointed out. On the other hand, inflationary pressure is likely to continue along with volatility in the equity markets, which will make gold attractive for investors looking to diversify their portfolios and protect their wealth.

In April-June 2011, the scrap arrivals have halved to 10 tonne from last year. Ajay Mitra said rather than selling old gold ornaments to jewellers for meeting financial exigencies, people were pledging gold with NBFCs like Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance and redeeming it at a later date by paying back the loans. Following the global trend, the gold prices in the Mumbai touched to Rs 27,340 per 10 gram. It is reported that gold imports, which stood at 553 tonnes for the January-June period, could cross the 1,000 tonne mark this year amid strong demand.

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