Gujarat: This financial year, gold import falls 27%, silver 84%

Gold import in Ahmedabad fell by 27% to 52 tonne in the financial year ended March 2019, the second lowest import of the yellow metal in the last eight years.

GSECL, which handles cargo at the Ahmedabad airport, said that 52 tonne gold was imported at the airport between April 2018 and March 2019, as against 71.14 tonne in the year ago period.

GSECL said that the yellow metal ended the year with a high, with import nearly doubling to 6.08 tonne in March 2019 from 3.14 tonne in the same month of previous year. The gold import at Ahmedabad for 2018-19 was the second lowest in the eight years for which data is available. The lowest import in this period was in 2016-17 when the figure stood at 50.88 tonne, according to GSECL data.

Jewellers said that they are seeing good retail demand for the yellow metal.

“There is very good demand for gold in the retail markets. Gold price has come down from Rs34,000 per 10 gram last month to Rs32,700 now. There is a lot of buying in view of the upcoming marriage season,” said Jigar Soni, vice president of Jewellers Association Ahmedabad.

Silver loses sizzle

Silver also put up weak show in the year gone by. 

The data showed that silver import for 2018-19 stood at 35 tonne, as against 218.53 tonne, a sharp decline of 84%. For March, import of the shiny metal was nearly 98% lower at 0.39 tonne as against 15.64 tonne in the same month of last year. Incidentally, silver import for the just concluded fiscal year was also the second lowest after 2016-17, when it was recorded at 16.14 tonne, in the eight years for which data is available.