Proposal to reduce tax on 4 gold jewelry and fine art codes

The appraisal dossier of the draft Decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 26/2023/ND-CP on the Export Tariff Schedule, Preferential Import Tariff Schedule, List of Goods and Absolute Tax Rates, Mixed Tax, and Import Tax outside the Tariff Quota has just been announced.

The main content of the draft is to reduce export tax rates on gold jewelry and fine arts under four HS codes (7113.19.10, 7113.19.90, 7114.19.00, 7115.90.10) from 1% to 0%.

In the draft report to the Government, the Ministry of Finance said that according to statistics from the Customs Department, the total export turnover of this item, across all four codes, in 2024 was 332.2 million USD, down 4.95% compared to 2023 (349.5 million USD). Of which, 3/4 of the codes had increased export turnover, 1/4 of the codes had decreased export turnover.

Specifically, jewelry increased from 211 million USD in 2023 to 317.9 million USD in 2024; jewelry parts increased from 9.6 million USD to 11.9 million USD; other gold or silver products increased from 442,000 USD to 502,000 USD. Particularly, the group of industrial goods and parts of industrial goods decreased sharply from 128.4 million USD to 1.8 million USD, a decrease of 98.6%.

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The Ministry of Finance has proposed to reduce the export tax rate on gold jewelry and fine art products. Photo: Nguyen Hue

The Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Government for consideration an adjustment to reduce export tax rates for four gold jewelry and fine art products, in order to support businesses in reducing costs and improving product competitiveness in the context of limited input gold sources and rising prices. Thereby, contributing to promoting the transformation of stored gold into value-added products.

According to the Ministry of Finance, implementing this plan, state budget revenue is expected to decrease by about 3.3 million USD/year (about 79 billion VND/year, calculated on export turnover in 2024).

Raw gold is scarce, world price difference

According to the drafting agency, the gold industry in general and gold jewelry and fine arts in particular have recently experienced many fluctuations in prices, supply and demand in both domestic and international markets.

The World Gold Council (WGC) report shows that the world gold price in the fourth quarter of 2024 increased by about 28-30% compared to the beginning of the year (the highest since 2010) and continued to set a new peak in 2025. On average, in the first quarter of 2025, the world gold price increased by about 38-39% compared to the same period last year.

In Vietnam, according to data from the General Statistics Office, since the beginning of 2025, the domestic gold price index compared to the previous month and compared to the same period last year has continuously increased sharply.

Specifically, compared to the previous month, the gold price index in February 2025 increased by 4.72%; March 2025 increased by 4.68%; April 2025 increased by 10.54%; May 2025 increased by 10.47%; in June 2025 alone, the domestic gold price index decreased slightly by 1.27%. Compared to the same period last year, the increases over the months were 32.57%; 32.68%; 37.14%; 45.95% and 48.01%, respectively. On average, in the first 6 months of the year, the gold price index increased by 37.4%.

The Ministry of Finance said that the price of jewelry fluctuates in the same direction as the domestic gold price.

Specifically, February 2025 increased by 4.32% compared to the previous month; March 2025 increased by 3.73%; April 2025 increased by 7.32%; May 2025 increased by 10.64%; and June 2025 alone decreased by 1.34%.

Fluctuations in world and domestic gold prices have affected global gold consumption, especially for jewelry and fine art gold.

According to the WGC report, the total global demand for gold jewelry and fine arts in 2024 will reach 1,877 tons (down 11% compared to 2023) and in the first quarter of 2025 will reach 380 tons (down 21% compared to the same period in 2024).

In Vietnam, demand for gold jewelry and fine arts reached 13.22 tons (down 13% year-on-year in 2023 - the largest decrease in the ASEAN region).

Recently, to support the domestic gold jewelry and fine art manufacturing industry, Decree No. 26/2023 of the Government has stipulated a preferential import tax rate of 0% for unprocessed gold products (raw gold) to reduce input costs for businesses.

However, according to information from the State Bank, no enterprise has been licensed to import raw gold to produce gold jewelry and fine arts since 2012. Enterprises must balance the source of raw gold from the domestic market, which is in a state of scarcity and the price difference is high compared to the world gold price.

The Ministry of Finance said that since mid-April 2025, the difference between domestic and world gold prices has increased sharply, peaking in mid-May when the price of SJC gold bars was 19 million VND/tael higher than the converted world gold price, while the difference for gold rings was nearly 14 million VND/tael.

This development reduces the competitiveness of Vietnam's exported gold jewelry and handicrafts. Therefore, it is necessary to study the reduction of export tax rates for gold jewelry and handicrafts.

Gold prices continuously break the peak, surpassing 125 million/tael: Differences from the 'wave' at the beginning of the year Unlike the gold rush in early 2025 or in 2024, this gold price increase has some differences as it does not come from sudden buying demand.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/bo-tai-chinh-muon-dieu-chinh-thue-xuat-khau-vang-xuong-0-2436411.html