Many member gold enterprises of the Saigon Jewelry Association have expressed concern that they have found large amounts of gold which contains rogue substances that current technology fails to detect. Nguyen Van Dung, chairman of the association, said at a seminar in HCMC last Friday many businesses had found material gold which was mixed with substances like wolfram, osmium, iridium and ruthenium. Wolfram... 

The Vietnam Gold Traders Association has written to the central bank asking for a lax rule on gold jewelry processing operations as a draft government decree governing gold-related business activity is being passed around for consultations. The association said the draft decree looked unconductive to gold jewelry production and processing that will help add value, meet local and export demand, create... 

Some jewelry companies and banks took advantage of the local gold price, which has been much lower than the global price in previous months, to earn profits by boosting gold jewelry export. The general director of a small bank in District 1 told the Daily that the bank’s business had been not too successful recently so he had to take a risk on exporting gold jewelry, profiting on the margin between... 

Since May 1, commercial banks cannot lend gold even for jewelry production under new regulation of the central bank that may put jewelry companies in jeopardy. The boss of a large jewelry company said the firm usually accepted loans in gold from banks to produce jewelry – and capital from banks accounted for a considerable proportion of the company’s total capital. He said the State Bank of... 

Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Co has started work on Vietnam’s largest jewelry production plant with an annual capacity of 4 million products in Ho Chi Minh City. The VND100 billion ($4.8 million) plant, designed by DongALand Real Estate Joint Stock Co, covers 12,500 square meters in Go Vap District. It is expected to finish by January 2012. Another HCMC-based jewelry firm, Saigon Jewelry... 

Billions dollar worth of high-grade jewelries have been exported in the last two years from Vietnam to Switzerland, where the jewelries are smelted to get gold. The Financial Times has reported that there has been a growing tendency over the past two years that Vietnamese businessmen have been trying to export high-grade gold jewelry to Switzerland as a trick to “dodge” the current laws which... 

There are three goods inspection centers nationwide, but there is no gold inspection center. Therefore, no one can come forward and certify the quality of gold in Vietnam. If people come to gold shops to buy gold jewelry, they always hear the gold shops’ owners reassuring that the shops commit to sell pure gold. However, no one can verify  if the gold products are as pure as advertised by the shops’... 

On January 1, 2011, the Ministry of Finance released Circular No. 184 imposing a 10 percent export tax on gold material of purity under 99.99 percent and gold jewelry of above 99 percent. Other types of gold are exempt from the new tax. A couple days ago the open market was disordered by information that gold bar trading could be banned. It seems that the Government is gradually restricting the gold... 

Jewelry shops in Ho Chi Minh City, for long the major foreign-currency source in the City, are sticking to gold trading. At 4 pm Tuesday, the jewelry market at 178-180 Le Thanh Ton Street, Ho Chi Minh City, was closed with a board announcing it was a “holiday.” Many people stopped by though the doors were closed and the lights turned off, looking surprised because the place usually remains opens... 

HCMC – Domestic gold traders are trying to seek a way out amid the Government’s intention to restrict or even ban gold bar trading on the local market, and one of their immediate answers to this is to switch to jewelry. In a latest resolution designed to put inflation under control and stabilize the macro economy, the Government says it will work toward doing away with gold bar trading, which...