Gold Mourning, Vietnam: Government inflicted gold export duty affects dealers not miners

According to a report released today on BullionStreet.com, gold dealers in Vietnam are feeling the pinch of export restrictions levied at the end of 2010. Due to regulations regarding the purity of bullion and jewelry, these dealers are being squeezed by a 10% export duty that’s imposed on gold bullion with a purity of 99.99% and gold jewelry with a purity of 80%.

The impact of the restrictions have already been felt among the Vietnamese goldsmith community, which has made make-shift adjustments such as watering down the purity of gold for export or resorting to smuggling out of the country. For buyers of Vietnamese gold jewelry, the impact will certainly reduce the competitive pricing of quality items as suppliers scramble to overcome the profit loss inflicted by the restriction.

While gold dealers continue to try and lobby the government for a lift on the duty, it is unclear whether the restrictions will impact the Vietnamese mining community in the long term. Toronto-based Olympus Pacific Minerals [OYM – TSX] has taken precautionary measures to mitigate the damage these restrictions posed.

Producing from two gold plants located in Vietnam, Olympus’ decision to move its refining operations was simple. Originally marked for export to a refinery in Switzerland, Olympus has mitigated the potential damage from the export duty by redirecting its supplies to a refinery within Vietnam’s borders. With consolidated production in 2011 from both its Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu Gold Plants, Olympus’ Vietnamese production is projected at 46,000 ounces for 2011. By refining in Vietnam, Olympus is not subjected to the export duty.

As the only major foreign-owned gold producer in the region, Olympus seems to have proved that the peril experienced by dealers. At this stage, it’s unclear whether the dealers will get their demands met. They currently are asking authorities to drop controls on import and export of gold, and to instead introduce sanctions on gold price speculation and other manipulative acts.

By G. Joel Chury
VantageWire.com

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