This is in line with the market moving to its own beat, often much higher than the world gold price, on the back of regulations that severely limit the importation of gold yet a culture that sees gold as an important store of wealth. This, coupled with challenging economic conditions, has fueled demand with the State Bank, reluctant to allow the import of more gold in the event it might put greater pressure on the local currency. Instead it has taken to selling gold from its own reserves to deflate the gold bar price…

Of note, State Bank gold bars were previously being sold through four majority state-owned banks, at well below market price, with huge queues of customers looking to buy up the cheap State Bank gold. This has since moved online and now that demand is much less visible. That said, the rising price of gold rings could suggest there may be a supply side issue with respect to gold bars… 

This move, however, may have inadvertently facilitated a spike in demand giving people who don’t have the time to wait in queues at banks a more efficient means to buy the relatively cheap gold on offer. Of note, Agribank reported that at one point there were 50,000 attempts to register to buy gold at one time through its online portal…

There was a similar situation last month whereby Reuters reported that the state power provider had asked a key Apple supplier to reduce its power consumption, however, the state power provider later came out and said this wasn’t accurate. It should be noted that government ministries and departments and state-owned enterprises generally do not respond to requests for comment from foreign media. With this in mind, a simple solution might be to reform this practice.

If this is accurate, this would signal an interesting turn of events. To be clear, the State Bank took control over gold imports and exports to stabilise the local currency when inflation surged back in 2011. At the time, gold was being used as a store of wealth to hedge against inflation and banks were permitted to lend and borrow against the yellow metal which was pushing up demand (incidentally this practice was banned in 2012, too). This was increasing demand for US dollars to import more gold and subsequently putting inflationary pressure on the local currency…

This comes in the context of a rush to buy gold in Vietnam after the State Bank announced it would start selling gold from its reserves at well-below market prices to try and close the gap between local and world gold prices. Previously, the State Bank had tried to auction off its gold to several gold companies and financial institutions but the price was set relatively high and interest from these institutions was lacklustre at best…

Previously, the State Bank had tried to auction off its gold to several gold companies and financial institutions but the price was set relatively high and interest from these institutions was lacklustre at best. Of note, a number of gold shops ran out of gold bars yesterday, some reportedly in just one hour. With little utility in general, and even less for consumers, it looks very much like these gold purchases are for investment purposes.

Gold was trading at US$2,684.20 per troy ounce in Vietnam on Saturday. Conversely, on the world market gold trading at US$2,327.36. The difference of US$356.84 or 13.29 percent is markedly lower than it was earlier this year when gold in Vietnam topped US$2,910.58 per troy ounce which was, at the time, about 20 percent higher than the world gold price.

This decision came about after a series of gold auctions, in which 47,000 taels of gold were sold to an assortment of banks and gold retailers failed to impact the local gold price to the extent the SBV had hoped…

On the one hand, the State Bank wants to bring down the price of gold which is much higher than the world gold price because there is more demand than there is supply. On the other hand, the State Bank doesn’t want US dollars leaving the country because this creates inflationary pressure on the dong. If it sounds like these policies are contradictory then that is because they are…

This latest development is a vast improvement with a series of past gold auctions selling only a few thousand gold bars or being cancelled altogether due to lack of interest. The change of circumstances is likely due to changes to this gold auction that saw the minimum order significantly reduced.

The State Bank of Vietnam is still trying to auction off gold to bring down the gold price, despite several failed auctions amid an overheated gold market. This latest gold auction has 16,800 taels of gold up for grabs in lots of 500 taels down from 700 in past auctions,

Vietnam’s gold price topped VND 91.5 million a tael or 2,958.50 per troy ounce yesterday, a new peak for the yellow metal. At the same time, gold was trading on the world market for US$2,353 per troy ounce, a difference of US$605.50 or about 20.47 percent.  To try to close

Vietnam has held its second successful gold auction this year, however, the State Bank of Vietnam–theSBV–only managed to sell 3,400 SJC gold bars, Tuoi Tre is reporting.  Of note, multiple gold auctions have been announced in the last few weeks but have been cancelled due to a lack of interest. 

A gold auction of State Bank of Vietnam–SBV–gold reserves slated for Monday was cancelled and a gold auction that went ahead Tuesday had just two bidders, as a result of floor prices that were too high, VN Express is reporting. It also says that the minimum volume, of 1,400 taels

In an odd turn of events, a gold auction slated for yesterday was cancelled due to a lack of interest and a second, today, had just two bidders that bought a collective 3,400 taels of gold of the 16,400 on offer, VN Express is reporting. This is after gold auctions

In its first gold auction since 2013 the State Bank of Vietnam is set to make available about 630 kilograms of gold for banks and financial firms to bid on, VN Express is reporting. The online publication is also saying that the SBV intends to import more gold to fill

There is this emerging argument that the pressure on the exchange rate is partly caused by gold smuggling, for example, this article from Doanh Nhan Vietnam. The theory is that people are buying up US dollars to buy gold overseas and then smuggling it in. That may be the case,

It was reported earlier this week that the State Bank of Vietnam–the SBV–intends to reinstate gold auctions, however, local media did not report where the gold was set to come from. Today VN Express reported that the SBV has asked the Ministry of Finance to smooth-out the process for importing

A number of gold stores in Ho Chi Minh City have announced long holiday closures just after it was announced that the HCMC General Department of Market Management would be auditing the operations of gold stores in the city, Tuoi Tre is reporting. The publication says the city intends to