The free market is also experiencing shortages.

On June 17th, while visiting a gold shop in the Tan Dinh market area (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), we inquired about purchasing SJC gold bars and plain gold rings. The salesperson stated that plain gold rings cost 76 million VND per tael, while SJC gold bars were only available in 1-tael sizes, priced at 8.2 million VND per tael (82 million VND per tael), with no more 1-tael bars available.

Gold has appeared with two different prices.

We then went to the branches of Phu Nhuan Jewelry Company (PNJ) and the Vietnam Export Import Bank (Eximbank) branches in District 3 and Thu Duc City (Ho Chi Minh City), but the staff also reported that they had no more SJC gold bars.

Previously, on June 16th, we visited gold shops in the Cau Market area (District 12, Ho Chi Minh City) to inquire about buying SJC gold bars, but we were met with negative responses because these shops did not have a license to trade SJC gold bars issued by the State Bank.

"I bought SJC gold here a few months ago, why aren't you selling it today?" - when we asked, the seller didn't answer the question but instead showed annoyance: "If you want to buy, go to the places authorized by the state to trade SJC gold bars."

People still gather in large numbers in front of the SJC company headquarters every day to get a number to buy gold. Photo: LAM GIANG

Contacting a gold shop owner in the Go Vap market area (Ho Chi Minh City), they stated that buying and selling SJC gold bars is not straightforward these days. Gold shops only dare to make small transactions with familiar customers and are hesitant to trade with strangers for fear of penalties. This is because, according to regulations, the buying and selling of SJC gold bars requires a license from the relevant authorities.

If caught engaging in illegal transactions, the gold shop could have its business license revoked. However, the owner of this gold shop whispered, "When the shop acquires SJC gold bars from regular customers, we will call you to come and trade at the price announced by SJC Company."

The director of a gold company in Ho Chi Minh City said that currently no gold shop dares to publicly display the price list for SJC gold bars, but the market still has transactions through "private channels." This is because the demand for SJC gold bars remains very high, while ordering online or buying directly from banks and SJC companies is too difficult.

Observations on forums and social media show that some gold companies are still announcing the trading price of SJC gold bars to their regular customers. Accordingly, the current common price is 80.1 million VND/ounce for buying and 81.5 million VND/ounce for selling, which is 4-5 million VND/ounce higher than the "stable" price.

"Those queuing to buy gold at SJC Company, a state-owned commercial bank, at 76.98 million VND/ounce, may resell it to relatives or friends to profit from the price difference. It is very difficult to control these actual demands. Therefore, to reduce the situation of gold having two different prices, market-based measures are needed," commented the director of this gold company.

Expanding the network for selling gold bars.

Regarding the current situation of two gold prices in the market, gold expert Nguyen Ngoc Trong suggests increasing the supply of SJC gold bars by expanding the gold sales network for other companies and commercial banks.

Specifically, the sales system needs to be expanded so that people in many regions, provinces, and cities can buy gold bars, instead of concentrating in the two major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Otherwise, it will create scarcity and stimulate demand for gold among the people.

"Commercial banks with large branch and transaction office networks can expand gold bullion sales points to provinces and cities. The immediate solution is to allow online gold purchase registration, similar to what the four state-owned banks are doing. Customers can easily place orders, finalize prices, transfer money, and after a few days, go to the sales point to receive the gold. When the distribution network is large enough, people's demand for gold will gradually decrease," Mr. Trong said.

One expert argues that as long as many people who want to buy gold bars cannot access them due to the limited current gold selling network, it will be difficult to avoid a situation of two gold prices, or "black market" prices, similar to what happened with the free market USD recently.

In fact, to reduce pressure on gold retail outlets, from June 17th, all four state-owned commercial banks have implemented online registration for gold purchases, eliminating the need for customers to crowd and queue as in previous days.

The leader of a state-owned commercial bank assessed that the State Bank's solution of directly selling gold bars to the people through the state-owned commercial banking system and SJC Company has contributed to cooling down the price of gold bars.

"The most noticeable effect is that the price of SJC gold bars has dropped sharply in recent days, narrowing the gap with the world price to about 4-6 million VND/ounce. This is a short-term solution and may need to be implemented for some time longer until Decree 24/2012/ND-CP on gold market management is amended. In my opinion, this decree could be amended to abolish the monopoly on SJC gold bars and the monopoly on gold bar brands," said the bank's leader.

Dr. Nguyen Duc Do, Deputy Director of the Institute of Economics and Finance, believes that gold is a traditional investment channel for the people, alongside other familiar channels such as real estate and savings accounts. Therefore, to reduce people's investment in gold and transform it into a resource serving socio-economic development, the fundamental solution is for the state to encourage the development of other investment channels such as stocks and bonds. At the same time, it is necessary to continue maintaining macroeconomic stability so that people can confidently invest their money.

Professor Tran Tho Dat, a member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, commented that in the context of a volatile economy, gold could be a safe haven. However, from an investment perspective, gold is not a good source of profit compared to other channels, it carries many risks, and the government does not encourage people to hoard gold.

"If people continue to aggressively buy gold, resources will sit idle, which is not beneficial to the economy. In the long run, the government needs to find solutions to make other investment channels more attractive so that people have alternative choices and reduce their reliance on gold," Mr. Dat said.

(*) See Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, issue dated June 17th.

Continue the fight against "gold hoarding" (the practice of using gold as a currency).

On June 17th, the State Bank of Vietnam announced that it will continue to implement the roadmap to narrow and control the difference between the domestic selling price of SJC gold bars and the world price at an appropriate level. The goal is to combat the "goldization" of the economy as requested by the Government.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam's leadership, changing the long-standing habit and custom of hoarding gold among the people is not easy, but the fight against the "goldization" of the economy is urgent.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/gian-nan-mua-vang-binh-on-thi-truong-tu-do-cung-khan-hang-196240617212020531.htm