Gold prices continuously break new records, gold producers and traders react 'oppositely'

While SJC wants to reprocess more than 20 thousand taels of dented gold bars, PNJ complains about the scarcity of raw materials and a sharp decrease in revenue.

Amidst the unprecedented increase in gold prices, reaching VND104 million/tael, Saigon Jewelry Company Limited (SJC) also submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee its 2025 business plan, with revenue of more than VND34,897 billion, nearly VND300 billion higher than the 2024 plan.

Profit after tax also increased by about 20 billion compared to last year, at 88.9 billion VND.

Gold prices have been increasing continuously in the first 4 months of 2025 and for the first time, gold bars, gold rings, and jewelry have all surpassed the peak of 100 million VND tael. (Photo: H. L)

Notably, this year, the largest gold bar trading company said it will reprocess 20,074 dented gold bars and focus on jewelry production and trading. The company plans to sell 503,858 pieces of jewelry, up from 444,912 pieces in 2024.

On the contrary, the number of dented gold bars reprocessed this year has decreased significantly. Last year, in its business plan, SJC reprocessed and restamped 31,692 taels of gold bars.

The company also sets out its orientation for the coming years to focus on developing its core business and investing in the production and trading of SJC jewelry. With the goal of becoming one of the leading enterprises in the production and trading of jewelry, expanding the market, and bringing the SJC brand to Southeast Asia.

SJC has not yet announced its 2024 business results.

In 2023, SJC's revenue will reach more than VND28,400 billion, mainly from gold trading activities. Despite the large revenue, the company's after-tax profit is only nearly VND61 billion. The reason for the small profit is said to be because the cost of gold trading is too large.

SJC is the only gold trading enterprise 100% owned by the State, under the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. In June 2024, SJC and 4 banks BIDV, Vietcombank, Vietinbank and Agribank were assigned by the State Bank to sell gold bars to the market at a time when gold prices were skyrocketing and people's demand for buying was high.

Amid the soaring gold price, businesses producing and trading this metal have fallen behind on their business targets. (Illustration: HL)

Meanwhile, according to the 2025 annual general meeting of shareholders of Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company (PNJ), the company's leaders complained that the jewelry industry is facing many difficulties, and proposed a revenue plan to decrease by more than 17% compared to the previous year, down to VND31,607 billion.

Profit after tax also decreased to nearly 1,960 billion VND.

In 2024, PNJ achieved record revenue of more than 37,823 billion VND, after-tax profit of nearly 2,113 billion VND.

According to PNJ leaders, the biggest difficulty the company is facing is the scarcity of raw materials for gold production due to soaring prices. Although gold prices increased sharply in 2024, PNJ's report shows that last year, the jewelry industry faced an unprecedented series of hardships from a "double storm" from both supply and demand. While raw materials were scarce due to rising gold prices, on the demand side, the purchasing power of the jewelry industry and the luxury retail industry declined.

PNJ believes that many businesses in the industry have closed, changed their business lines or significantly reduced their operations, and the company must pivot and carry out a series of reforms to maintain growth.

Also according to PNJ, this is the only listed jewelry company that owns more than 1,000 goldsmiths, two factories and a production capacity of about 4 million products/year.

In the context of high gold prices, the gold mining plan has been reduced, which is also the case of TKV – Vimico Minerals Corporation.

Documents from the company's annual general meeting of shareholders show that in 2025, the company wants to mine 806 kg of gold, down 39 kg from last year (845 kg).

In addition, in the business orientation for the period 2026-2030, the enterprise plans to exploit nearly 4.7 tons of gold, an increase of nearly 300 kg compared to the period 2021-2025 (exploiting nearly 4.4 tons).

Thus, from 2026 to 2030, Vimico will mine an average of about 930 kg of gold per year.

Vimico is a member of Vietnam National Coal - Mineral Industries Group , operating mainly in the field of mineral exploitation such as gold, silver, zinc, copper, aluminum.

According to data from the World Gold Council, in 2024, Vietnam's average per capita gold jewelry consumption will reach 0.13 grams/person/year.

This index is lower than other countries. For example, the United Arab Emirates is 3.15 grams; the US is about 0.38 grams; Italy is 0.3 grams, the UK is 0.25 grams; Asian countries such as Singapore are 1.17 grams; India is 0.39 grams; China is 0.36 grams; Malaysia is 0.32 grams.

Ha Linh

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/gia-vang-lien-tiep-pha-dinh-nha-san-xuat-kinh-doanh-vang-phan-ung-nguoc-ar936867.html