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28 March 2024

Festival gold buying down

Published
By VM Satish and Sneha May Francis

Despite initially predicting that gold sales will pick up over the festive season, jewelers now claim it has been a dull month.

“There has been no increase in sales this month. It’s normal,” confirms a manager at Joy Alukkas jewellers.

With Eid weekend spreading across three days, some jewellers reason that the sale might pick up, just a little, but it won’t be substantial.

“We are not expecting the sales to shoot up massively over the Eid weekend. It will be better than the rest though,” he adds.

Speaking to Emirates 24|7, jewellers reveal that gold sales in the UAE had dropped by about 20 per cent in the previous months due to the skyrocketing gold price, a weakening Indian rupee and an Indian customs rule that discourages passengers from taking gold ornaments home.

Although Pure Gold retailers assert that the gold sales have been up, with the weekend sales doing great, the Eid buying didn’t pan out as expected.

“The Eid sales have not been good. We are hoping there will be an increase over the Eid weekend, but the current trend doesn’t show much promise,” informs a manager at the jewellery store.

“The next month will be good, because we are expecting a lot of Indian buyers for the festive season,” he adds.

A manager at Damas, another jewellery chain, agrees that there has been a dip in sales. “We are predicting that the trade will pick up next month.” And, in anticipation, they have unveiled a special Diwali collection as well.

Gold and diamond jewellers in Dubai predict a major boost in sales during the Diwali festival.

“We are gearing up for Diwali in the UAE,” said Abdul Salam, executive director of Malabar Gold, an Indian gold and diamond retailer.

Other jewellers are also bullish about the forthcoming festival season and are coming out with new offers and sales promotion incentives.

“We are starting a ‘Shine on Diwali 2012’ campaign, starting next week with Bollywood actress Esha Gupta,” a Damas official adds.

Malabar Gold has also roped in actor Soorya as its brand ambassador in addition to Malayalam movie star Mohanlal.

City jewelers are stocking up on gold ornaments and coins for ‘Dhan Theras’, which falls two days before Diwali (or Deepavali) and considered an auspicious day to buy gold. The last couple of years saw big crowds on ‘Dhan Theras’ and an artificial shortage of gold coins was reported.

Pearlju Baby Chungathu of  Chungathu Jewellery said all jewellers have started ordering gold coins and ornaments for Dhan Teras.

“We expect gold prices to remain stable during Diwali and we are accepting advance booking so that customers can avoid the rush in jewellery outlets during ‘Dhan Teras’. We are placing advance orders for gold coins because there is only one supplier in Dubai,” he adds.

“Going by the direction of the rupee exchange rate, the price of gold will definitely go up in India and for expatriate customers, it is better to buy gold in Dubai.”

Indian customs authorities will crack down only on passengers carrying a large quantity of gold jewellery, he adds, with some jewelers insisting that the archaic gold law won’t stop Indian buyers from splurging over the festive season.