Qatar: High gold prices spark rush to sell

Since people need permission from the police to sell gold in the pure form or in the form of jewellery, the Capital Security Department confirmed the section which issues such permits will be working in two shifts from Sunday to cope with the huge rush.

Having zoomed beyond QR117 for a gram of pure gold, the price of the precious metal has been averaging at around QR110 in the local market now for quite some time.

But it is mostly jewellery, and not 24-carat -- or pure -- gold which people are selling for cash, bullion traders said.

"We are not getting any enquiries for gold bar or coin sale from people. We only buy and sell bars and coins," said the senior vice-president of Al Fardan Exchange , which also deals in bullion.

A major jewellery outlet, while confirming that people were indeed selling jewellery since gold prices had been going up continuously, said they did not buy jewellery back and only exchanged old jewellery for new.

But an outlet in the gold souq said it did buy jewellery back for cash and that there was more than normal rush for this. It is mostly expatriates who are selling, he added.

Enquiries reveal that people who bought gold jewellery when the prices were low are now inclined to sell part of it to get cash for various needs. It is the price factor which is prompting people to offload gold, and not any urgent need for cash in these times of recession.

The Criminal Investigation Department at the Ministry of Interior said in a statement yesterday that the 'gold office' at the Capital Police headquarters will be working in two shifts -- morning and evening -- from Sunday to cope with the rush.

The section was working only in the morning shift, from 7am to 1pm, but from Sunday will work in the evenings as well -- from 4pm to 8pm.

"The gold office will issue permits to sell the gold in two shifts after verifying the personal identity of the seller. The office will keep a copy of the ID of the seller and register the quantity of gold which is to be sold," the statement quoted Lieutenant-Colonel Ziyab Ali Al Sahli, head of Capital Investigation section at the Capital Police, as saying.

There is a huge rush in the office to seek gold sale permits, he added, clarifying that the evening shift was only for individuals, while gold shops seeking permits still needed to come during the morning hours.