Kathmandu, October 3

The rising value of gold coupled with limited supply in the domestic market has worried jewellers ahead of the festive season.

Though September to October is regarded as a major season for jewellery business, jewellers said that surging gold price and unavailability of adequate bullion in the market this festive season has been affecting their business.

In fact, the value of yellow metal in the domestic market rose by Rs 900 per tola to Rs 59,000 a tola today compared to Tuesday’s price. In the last one week, gold price has surged by Rs 2,000 per tola. On September 26, the precious metal was traded at Rs 57,000 a tola in the market.

Similarly, the precious yellow metal has become dearer by Rs 3,000 per tola compared to October 3 last year.

“Customers are still waiting for the gold price to come down as the metal is getting dearer constantly,” informed Mohan Sunar, president of Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (FeNeGoSiDA).

Along with comparatively higher price this year, limited supply of raw gold in the market has also affected the jewellery business this festive season, according to Sunar.

Sunar criticised the government for overlooking the issues related to the business and concerns raised by jewellers. “Limited import quota of gold will not just affect the jewellery business but also promote smuggling of the yellow metal. However, we do not know why the government is dilly-dallying the process of raising import quota of gold,” added Sunar.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had written to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) six months ago urging it to raise the import quota of gold by 10 kg per day to 30 kg. MoICS finally gave permission to the central bank recently to raise the gold import quota by five kg per day. However, the central bank is yet to implement the MoICS’s nod regarding gold import quota and its board meeting is expected to authorise commercial banks to import extra five kg of gold every day in the near future.

“It is high time the government raised the import quota. Still, we expect the new import quota to be adjusted as soon as possible,” added Sunar.

At a glance

Date

Price per tola

3-Oct-17

Rs 56,000

3-Nov

Rs 55,100

3-Dec

Rs 55,500

3-Jan

Rs 55,900

Feb 3,2018

Rs 57,200

3-Mar

Rs 57,400

3-Apr

Rs 57,800

3-May

Rs 58,900

3-Jun

Rs 58,600

3-Jul

Rs 57,500

3-Aug

Rs 56,000

3-Sep

Rs 57,300

3-Oct

Rs 59,000

Source: FeNeGoSiDA