| Date: |
04-04-2016 |
| Subject: |
Gold, silver imports in Gujarat at six year low |
|
AHMEDABAD: The month long jewellers' strike, low demand and high prices has led to record low imports of gold in the state in a year in the last six years. According to latest data available from GSEC Ltd, only 83.84 metric tonnes (MT) of gold was imported in Gujarat in 2015-16 against 152.24 MT in 2014-15, registering a fall of 44.92%.
The month of March saw imports at 28-month low for a single month. Due to the strike by jewellers, the imports in March 2016 stood at just 0.54 MT, a fall of 97% in comparison to 20.7 MT of imports in March 2015.
Similarly, the imports of silver too fell at six year low in 2015-16. According to the data, in 2014-15 around 1425 MT of silver was imported in state while in 2015-16, the imports have just managed to cross 116 MT mark, registering a fall of 92% year-on-year.
Bullion traders blame the low imports on sluggish demand, high prices of gold and indefinite strike for lowest imports in 2015-16. "This year the prices remained volatile both in international as well as global markets for most time of the year. This dissuaded the traders from importing. Also lesser marriages in the last fiscal led to low demand," said Girish Choksi, city-based jeweler.
"The last quarter of 2015-16 saw a drop of over 30% in gold demand in the country including Gujarat. This was majorly due to complete shutdown by jewellers since March 2. Also the prices have crosses Rs 29,000 mark per 10 gram of gold which too did not find favour among the buyers," said Chirag Thakkar, director Amrapali Industries.
More than 50,000 jewellers of the state are on indefinite strike since March 2 protesting 1% excise duty levied on non-silver jewellery by finance minister. The jewellers have suffered losses of more than Rs 8000 crore due to the shutdown.
On the fall in imports of silver, Thakkar said, "The premium on silver is very high when it is imported by air while in case of sea, the cost comes down to half. With prices rising, the traders in the state preferred importing silver by sea via ports in Mumbai and Chennai which handle bulk silver imports."
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
|