India's gold bar imports nearly halved in Dec '14: GJEPC

 

MUMBAI (Scrap Monster):  The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has released the details of imports of raw materials for gems and jewellery for the month of December last year. According to data, the gold bar imports by the country during December 2014 witnessed a sharp decline of nearly 47% over the previous year.

 

The monthly import statistics released by GJEPC suggests that the total gold bar imports by the country during December ‘14 amounted to Rs 1,282.07 crores (USD 204.31 Million).In rupee terms, the gold bar imports have plunged by 47.13% over the year. The decline in dollar terms stood at 47.84%. It must be noted that the country’s gold bar imports during December 2013 were Rs 2,425.10 crores (USD 39.71 Million).

 

According to GJEPC, the cumulative gold bar imports by the country during the initial nine months of the current fiscal from April ‘14 to December ‘14 jumped higher by 12.97% when compared with the corresponding nine-month period during previous fiscal year. The country’s gold bar imports during April to December 2014 totaled Rs 25,875.32 crores (USD 4,266.10 Million). During the similar period last fiscal, the country had imported gold bars worth Rs 22,904.86 crores (USD 3,852.45 Million).

 

The gold imports by the country have shown signs of decline in December due to weak retailer gold demand and high volatility in prices.