Home/Commodities/Newsfeed

Indian Gold Imports Drop After September Surge

Share Print 0

Gold imports by India, the world’s second-biggest consumer, are poised to plunge this month from September when festival demand fueled a more than four-fold jump in shipments, a jewelers’ group said.

Overseas purchases probably fell to 50 metric tons to 60 tons this month from 95 tons in September, said Bachhraj Bamalwa, a director at the All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation, which represents 300,000 jewelers and dealers.

Demand in India, which represented 25 percent of global consumption in 2013, fell 34 percent in the first half after the government curbed imports to control a widening current-account deficit and a decline in the currency. Sales of jewelry, coins and bars rose in the run up to Diwali festival on Oct. 23 and demand will now be driven by the wedding season that runs through May, Bamalwa said.

“The wedding season demand will start coming in 10 days as there are a lot of marriages scheduled at the end of November,” Bamalwa said by phone from Kolkata. “The jump last month was because jewelers were preparing for demand during Diwali. Now that’s is over.”

Buying and gifting of gold is considered auspicious during festivals that run from August to October and the wedding season. A drop in prices boosted sales during Diwali and demand has been subdued since then, Bamalwa said.

via Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza

@alfonso_forex

Back to Top