Gold imports rise 8.5% to 849 tonne in 2014

But with demand staying low, imports may not see a big spike in the coming months

Despite stringent control on import of gold for most of 2014, these are projected to have risen by 8.5 per cent over 2013, to 849 tonnes from 782 tonnes the year before.

Restrictions were removed from November. The monthly average of import from June was 90 tonnes; in November, it was 151 tonnes, for $5.6 billion.

The ‘80:20’ scheme, introduced in the second half of 2013, had damped gold imports. However, from the second half of 2014, “imports were rising due to demand of consumers which was suppressed for several months”, said an industry observer. As much as 296 tonnes were imported in the last quarter of the calendar year, the highest after the quarter ending June 2013.

This was despite a sharp fall in December import, estimated at a little less than 30 tonnes, a fall of almost 80 per cent from November. The December import data will be the lowest in the past 15 months. Traders say there is now almost no demand for gold, with the inventory of past months’ import still in the market.

“Demand is (now) dull and we don’t see any significant improvement for a couple of month, as the expectation is that the government in its Budget might cut the import duty,” said Prithviraj Kothari of Riddhi Siddhi Bullion.

Gold was trading in the past month at a marginal $1-2 premium per ounce to its cost of import in the market here.