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In a recent press release, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) announced that, in line with its policy of auctioning gold bars to increase market supply, on the afternoon of April 19, 2024, the bank publicly announced the auction of gold bars on the SBV website and directly notified 15 eligible credit institutions and enterprises to participate in the gold auction. The auction was scheduled to take place at 10:00 AM on Monday, April 22, 2024.
However, due to insufficient registration and timely deposits from participants, the SBV canceled the auction.
According to the previously announced plan, the SBV would auction 16,800 taels of gold bars at 10:00 AM today (April 22).
These are SJC gold bars produced by the SBV. The gold will be auctioned in 100-tael lots.
The reference weight for calculating the deposit amount is each participant’s estimated bid amount. The minimum bid amount for each participant is 14 lots (equivalent to 1,400 taels) and the maximum is 20 lots (equivalent to 2,000 taels).
The deposit rate is 10%, with a reference price of VND 81.80 million/tael for calculating the deposit value (This price is only for deposit calculation purposes).
The bid price increment is VND 10,000/tael. Each bidder may only register one minimum price that is equal to or higher than the floor price announced by the SBV.
According to regulations, eligible participants in the SBV gold auction are credit institutions and enterprises licensed to buy and sell gold bars.
To continue implementing the policy of auctioning gold bars to increase market supply, the SBV will conduct a gold auction at 9:00 AM on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, and has widely notified eligible credit institutions and enterprises to register and make deposits today (April 22).
According to the announcement, the total volume of gold bars to be auctioned in the April 23 auction is 16,800 taels, the same as the amount offered in the April 22 auction (which was canceled).
The regulations and bid procedures for the April 23 auction remain the same as for the April 22 auction. However, the SBV has reduced the reference price for calculating the deposit to VND 80.7 million/tael, from VND 81.8 million/tael set for the April 22 auction.
Earlier, at the Press Conference on the Results of Banking Operations in Q1/2024 held on the morning of April 19, Mr. Dao Xuan Tuan (Director of the Foreign Exchange Management Department – State Bank of Vietnam) said that the State Bank of Vietnam had made thorough preparations for the gold bar auction.
“This is gold that has been produced by the State Bank of Vietnam and is in stock. This afternoon (April 19), the State Bank of Vietnam will announce the auction policy to 15 eligible entities to participate in the gold auction. The auction will take place on Monday next week (April 22),” said Mr. Tuan at the press conference on the results of banking operations in Q1/2024.
The SJC gold bar auction has been restarted as domestic gold prices have been rising steadily in recent months, creating a widening gap between domestic and international gold prices.
The SBV’s intervention is expected to increase gold supply in the market and cool gold prices in the near future. This is also the first time the State Bank of Vietnam has organized an auction of gold bars in 11 years.
Previously, from March 28, 2013, to December 31, 2013, the State Bank of Vietnam conducted 76 auctions, offering a total of 1,932,000 taels of gold and successfully selling 1,819,000 taels, equivalent to 69.9 tons of gold. Of this, 30 tons were purchased by commercial banks to settle gold positions, and nearly 40 tons were sold to the market.
