India's gold imports rocket higher

India (Feb 11)  A government source confirmed that gold imports in India for the month of January surged 72% from a year earlier. It as said this is due to a correction in prices from the record high and this drew retail buyers and jewellers.

India are the world’s second-biggest consumer of the gold and imported around 62 tonnes of it in January, up from 36.5 tonnes a year ago, the source said. The source asked to remain anonymous since he is not authorised to speak to the media according to Reuters. In monetary terms, January imports surged to $4.04 billion from $1.58 billion a year ago, he added.

Adding to this there are Lunar New Year celebrations all over the world and gold is traditionally given as a gift. A retail buying spree could be on the cards as the spot price of gold pulled away from the all-time high seen on 7th August of $2075.14/oz.

Just last week Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced cut in import duties on gold in Budget 2021. The duty on gold was 12.5 per cent until 1 February, which has now been reduced to 7.5 per cent.

Today the price is holding at around $1841/oz and still looks to be moving sideways. The massive Federal Reserve and US government stimulus programs have helped the yellow metal move higher but the move seems to have stalled. Higher inflation over the coming months could help the precious metals rise but some other assets have been benefitting more from the recent readings in CPI but over time this could correct itself.

KitcoNews