Saturday, Aug 27, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai Climbing gold prices have lead to more than a 50 per cent boost in gold bullion sales.
Gold retailers are reporting a steady increase in sales of gold bullion as investors look to take advantage of the climbing gold prices.
“Myself and other gold retailers are seeing a lot more people buying gold for investment purposes. We’re selling a lot more bullion bars in the last two months. In the last month alone bullion sales have more than doubled,” Chetan Dhakan, owner of National Jewellery [Gold and Diamonds], told Gulf News.
This rush of investing in gold can go both ways, said Dhanji Dedhia, marketing director for Damas Jewellery.
“For some people, when the price of gold goes up, they buy as they think the price will continue to rise. Comparatively, when the price goes down, other consumers buy gold as they think that the price of gold might rise again in the future,” he said.
Gold jewellery sales on the other hand have suffered a steady decline.
“Jewellery sales have been declining for the past few months. People are buying it for special occasions but are not buying it as often. Gold jewellery sales decreased at least 25 per cent in the last couple of months,” said Dhakan.
According to Dedhia, to boost customer interest in gold jewellery, jewellers are taking innovative measures to keep the price down.
“The rising price of gold is putting pressure on jewellers to become more innovative when it comes to offering customers the same value for money. For instance, Damas is exploring new production technologies to offset the rising cost of commodities,” said Dedhia.
By Aya Lowe?Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
