KATHMANDU, JUNE 17

As the bullion market has resumed, there has been a surge in the number of customers who are visiting shops to sell their jewellery.

The Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (FeNeGoSiDA) resumed market from last week. During the lockdown period, gold price has surged in the market and customers are in a rush to sell their gold ornaments. However, gold traders may not be able to deal with the selling pressure, said Manoj Kumar Shah, spokesperson for FeNeGoSiDA.

“Due to the COVID-19, the entire world is in crisis. Indeed a few customers may really be facing economic hardships and don’t have any other option than to sell their jewellery,” he said, “But the market cannot sustain under the one-side selling pressure. Moreover, even the dealers do not have enough money at this time.” Shah, however, said that the federation has also urged gold traders to make necessary financial arrangements to cater to the customers.

In the meantime, the federation has also urged the customers not to sell their gold jewellery at this time unless they are facing real crisis.

“A few days back we even published a notice requesting customers to have patience and not to sell their jewellery for a while,” he said. “Since large gatherings have to be avoided, we have requested customers not to visit shops at this time.”

Gold price had reached Rs 89,800 per tola today.

There is investment worth Rs 60 billion in bullion market, as per FeNeGoSiDA.

“The market had already been facing several problems since last year, which was further aggravated due to the lockdown,” Shah said, “The situation has created financial crisis in the market and even traders are facing problems in paying their loans and interest.” He further said that though the market has resumed, traders are struggling to pay rent and wages to their workers.

“We hope customers will understand our problems too,” he added.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 18, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.