With gold prices hovering over ₹5,000 a gram, investors are buying gold coins of different denominations, according to jewellers here.
B. Sabarinath, president of Coimbatore Jewellers’ Association, said gold prices on Thursday evening in Coimbatore was ₹5,093 per gram for 22 carat gold and ₹ 5,515 a gram for 24 carat. The demand is less for jewellery. However, sales is better this week compared to last week. Most of the buyers want to buy coins. “They want to lock the investment. They are likely to convert the coins into jewellery at a later date,” he said.
According to B. Muthuvenkatraman, president of Coimbatore Jewellery Manufacturers’ Association, though all the cities have opened up, the demand for jewellery is still less. There are hardly any orders for the manufacturers here, even from the northern States. The market is yet to stabilise, he said.
However, S.M. Kamal Hasan, president of Coimbatore Goldsmiths’ Association, said the orders for goldsmithies have increased in the recent weeks. If a goldsmith got orders for 300 gm gold a week before the spread of COVID-19, it is for 900 gm now. “We do not have people to make the jewellery. The orders are mainly for traditional items such as studs and drops,” he said. “Gold rates are expected to go up further in the coming months. We expect orders to be high even then,” he said.
Chennai was the main market for jewellery. Now that it is closed and flight services are restricted, orders from other parts of Tamil Nadu are coming to Coimbatore, which is a major manufacturing centre. That is keeping the smithies busy, he says.
COMMents
SHARE