Gold retail sales suffered a double-digit drop in the first half of the year, Lee Koi Ian, director-general of the Macau Goldsmiths’ Guild, said yesterday, adding that he expected the price of gold to continue to rise.
Lee talked to reporters at Seng Fung Jewellery in Avenida de D. João IV before they witnessed a gold fineness sampling test. The Macau Goldsmiths’ Guild had invited the media to cover the test.
According to Lee, in the first half of the year, affected by the global economy and the Sino-US trade war, the local gold retail sector has been adversely impacted as the gold price has been continuously rising, reducing sales.
The current price of gold is about US$1,440 (around 11,625 patacas) per ounce (there are 28 grammes to an ounce), which is at a six-year high.
Lee said that even though the number of tourists in Macau has been rising, gold retail sales still suffered a double-digit drop in the six months. Lee also said he believed the current situation had many similarities with the quantitative easing in 2009.
Lee said he believed that as the market digests the news that the gold price will continue to rise, retail consumers will actively invest in gold.
Hopes for year’s 2nd half
Lee said he hoped that the sector’s turnover would increase in the second half of the year thanks to the mainland’s Golden Week in October, the Grand Prix and the Christmas holidays, as the number of tourists could be expected to grow during the holidays.
Lee said that the current goldmarket situation was relatively simple at the downstream retail level, and he hoped that the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai- Macau Bridge (HKZMB) late last year and the ongoing development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) would help the local gold retail trade develop an upturn in manufacturing, design and certification, amongst others, completing the entire industry chain.
Meanwhile, the annual gold fineness sampling test organised by the Macau Goldsmiths’ Guild and the Consumer Council started yesterday. The testing will last for three consecutive days with the aim of maintaining the sector’s reliability. According to Lee, gold jewellery from over 100 member firms will be sampled to check on the purity in order to ensure that the products have the purity they are being sold at.
Most jewellery shops in Macau sell gold that follows the millesimal fineness system which classifies gold sold here as 999.9 as opposed to the karat system according to which, for example, 24k equals 99.95 percent pure gold.
Lee Koi Ian (right), director general of the Macau Goldsmiths’ Guild, witnesses yesterday’s gold fineness sampling test at his shop in Avenida de Avenida de D. João IV. Photo: Dorothy Vong
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