Alappat ties up with Aussie firm to import gold bars

Jewellery retailer, Alappat Gold, has tied up with Australia's globally rated bullion refiner, Perth Mint, to import standard gold bars in bulk.

The group has targeted to import around 1 tonne of gold in the next 12-month period for making gold ornaments, Babu Alappat, chairman and managing director of the group told the media adding that this was the first-of-its-kind tie-up.

Since there are no middlemen engaged in importing gold from the bullion refiner, the company will have certain advantages over the fluctuations in market prices as well as the purity of the gold. It would import Australian nuggets of 999.9 per cent purity, he said.

Perth Mint is a member of the London Bullion Merchants Association, which controls the London bullion rates.

The jewellery retailer has also planned to import gold and platinum ornaments from Italy and Turkey to cash in on the demand for imported jewellery in Kerala. It currently imports ornaments from Singapore and various states of India like West Bengal.

According to estimates, Kerala consumes around 120 tonnes of gold annually while the country's total annual consumption is 800 tonnes, the biggest in the world.

The company will open its 6,000 sft showroom in Kochi on December 14.