High prices fail to dampen gold imports in June

Chennai: Higher gold prices have not impacted the gold imports in June. Gold imports last month was up both in terms of value and volume, compared to the year ago month. The entire June quarter saw demand going up by around 32 per cent.

In June, the country imported gold worth $2.69 billion, which was up 12.6 per cent from the import value in the same month last year, Reuters quoted government officials.

At an average rate of $1358 per ounce, the country would have shipped in around 62 tonnes of gold in June. This is 5.44 per cent up from 58.8 tonnes imported in June 2018.

Increase in imports - both in volume and value- indicates that demand has not dropped for gold despite the six-year high prices. Prices were up for most part of June. While in the international market it hit a six-year high, in the local market it touched record levels.

For a June month, the import demand was higher as it is usually a lean month as far as retail demand is concerned.

According to industry insiders, higher gold prices boosted investment demand in bars and coins. Investment demand was up in March quarter as well. But, jewellery demand remained subdued in June and consumers waited for prices to stabilise.

However, the gold demand in June was much lower than that in the month of May, which was driven by Akshaya Tritiya sales. In May, the country had impor-ted 116 tonnes of gold for $4.78 billion. Onset of wedding season and stable prices had combined with pent up demand to push Akshaya Tritiya sales by 15 to 20 per cent in May.

For the entire June quarter, the imports were up 31.6 per cent. The total gold imports stood at 263.1 tonnes this June quarter against 199.8 tonnes in the year ago quarter.