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Saturday, 11/21/2020 13:31 PM (GMT + 7)
When the national gold market is scarce without being imported through official channels, there is a risk of smuggling.
Recently, An Giang province police discovered a group of people traveling in motor boats heading from Cambodia to Vietnam with suspicious signs. The police then arrested Tran Van Hai with two sacks and a black nylon wrap that contained many yellow metal blocks weighing about 51 kg.
People’s need to buy gold is real, whereas it is not allowed to import it. Photo: TL
According to the results of the inspection of the Institute of Criminal Sciences under the Ministry of Public Security, 51 kg of the aforementioned yellow metal is 9999 gold.
It’s just the tip of the iceberg
Gold industry expert Duong Anh Vu said: In recent years, the phenomenon of smuggling has slowed because the wave in the domestic gold market is not great, the attractiveness of the market is no longer the same as before. However, when the domestic price of gold is significantly higher than the world price of gold recently, the illegal import of gold increases due to the attractive earnings.
“With 51 kg of gold illegally seized recently, based on the world’s lowest gold price of USD 1,860 / ounce, the total amount spent to buy 51 kg of gold from Cambodia is approximately VND 69 billion. Therefore, if the price of crude gold in Vietnam is higher than the world price by only around 2 million VND / tael, when the illegally imported gold is 51 kg of gold, the profit is around 4 thousand million VND. This benefit is obviously too attractive “- calculated Mr. Vu.
Sharing the same point of view, an expert who is currently an advisor to the World Gold Council in Vietnam said: In Vietnam, cross-border gold smuggling has existed for decades, it is not something new. Recently. In particular, the scale of gold smuggling from Cambodia to Vietnam is not small.
The reason for the above situation is due to the habit of the Vietnamese people to buy gold and accumulate gold. Meanwhile, according to current regulations, Vietnam does not allow the import of gold and this leads to illegal gold reaching Vietnam.
“In fact, in the south, the smuggled gold comes mainly from Cambodia, the center comes from Laos and the north is smuggled from China. However, gold smuggling in large quantities is mainly found in the southwestern border area between Vietnam and Cambodia. The detection of 51 kg of smuggled gold may only be the tip of the iceberg ”, evaluated this expert.
A representative of a gold trading company also said that the illegal transport of 51 kg of gold across the border has just been discovered as the largest gold smuggling case ever arrested in Vietnam. But this is not the first case discovered by the authorities. In particular, illegal gold is not only transported by land, but also by air and sea.
Typically, the security force at Noi Bai Airport in August 2017 inspected five men entering Vietnam from Thailand and discovered contraband gold jewelry, including bracelets, necklaces and flowers. ear … up to 28.54 kg. According to testimony from the subjects, functional forces continued to arrest more smuggled gold jewelry, including 8,155 kg. Thus, the total amount of gold jewelry seized by this smuggling line exceeds 36 kg of gold.
To prevent the smuggling of gold
Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Jewelry and Jewelry Association, discussed: People’s demand for gold jewelry always exists and the production of gold jewelry next year is always greater than past year. Therefore, the demand for crude gold also increases naturally. According to the Vietnam Gold Business Association, each year, the demand for raw gold for jewelry production has reached about 20 tons.
However, since Decree 24/2012 on the management of gold trade was promulgated in 2012 until now, Vietnam has not imported any more material gold bars. Meanwhile, jewelry companies still produce evenly, especially now in the high season (Christmas, New Year, wedding season …), the demand for gold jewelry, rings, necklaces, bracelets, rings is increasing. Not to mention that some high-tech products also need raw gold.
The national gold price is unusually high
Recently, the domestic gold price is 2-3 million dong / tael higher than the world price, even up to 5 million dong / tael at times. Many economists believe that this is an unusual phenomenon and is the main reason why smuggled gold flows into Vietnam.
However, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Minh, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City State Bank branch, said that since Decree 24/2012 governing gold trading activities came into force, the gold market has been kept stable, there is no longer a situation. speculation, causing prices to destabilize the economy. Even at the time when the price of gold fluctuated strongly like in August, there was not a situation of people waiting in long lines to buy gold.
“However, the State Bank is always closely monitoring the movement of the gold price in the market and has sufficient resources to intervene in the gold market when necessary,” emphasized Mr. Minh.
Illegal 9999 gold has just been arrested by the police. Photo: CA
“Obviously, when crude gold is not imported through official channels but the market needs it, the only way is to import it by contraband. In particular, in the context that the gold price in the Vietnamese market is 4 million dong / tael higher than the current world price, the risk of increased gold smuggling is easy to understand ”- said Mr. Dung.
The president of the Ho Chi Minh City Jewelry Association emphasized that to effectively eliminate the situation of cross-border gold smuggling, the State Bank (SBV) must allow the import of gold as raw material through official channels according to with market needs. school and business. Once the national gold market is connected to the world and the price difference is no longer available, smugglers will be out of business.
“This is a proposal that the Vietnam Gold Business Association has submitted to the State Bank for a long time. The problem is only the operator’s response ”- said Mr. Dung.
Mr. Huynh Trung Khanh, Senior Advisor to the World Gold Council in Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia, recently responded to an interview with the Ho Chi Minh City Law and also said: The national and international gold market is not interconnected due to Vietnam. The South banned the import and export of gold and several gold trading units were out of supply, causing an abnormal fluctuation in the price of gold, the large difference between the sale price and the purchase price.
When the national gold market is scarce but cannot be imported through official channels, there is a risk of cross-border smuggling.
“Only when the national supply of gold escapes from scarcity, will the gap between national and international gold prices be narrowed and the bottleneck in the gold jewelry industry will be eliminated. Furthermore, people who buy gold also reduce the great risk when the domestic price of gold is always more expensive than the world price, ”emphasized Mr. Khanh.
Source: https://plo.vn/kinh-te/phia-sau-vu-buon-lau-khung-hon-50-kg-vang-951256.html
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