Many people, including Ms. Tam from District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, were surprised to find that gold shops were unwilling to purchase their SJC gold bars, specifically the “one-letter” type (with a single letter before the serial number). The gold shops cited that this older design, with only one letter in front of the serial number, was no longer in demand and thus difficult to resell.
Similarly, Ms. Tuyet Nhung from Nha Be District expressed her concern about not being able to sell her SJC gold bars, which included both the “one-letter” type and slightly deformed bars. She explained that these gold bars were purchased a long time ago, and now she was unsure what to do as SJC was also not buying them back.
SJC temporarily suspends the purchase of “one-letter” and deformed gold bars.
The “one-letter” SJC gold bars are considered older versions, having been in circulation before SJC was recognized as a national gold brand. These bars feature a single letter before the serial number, while the newer SJC gold bars have two letters before the serial number.
This is not the first time that SJC has halted the repurchase of the “one-letter” gold bars. A similar situation occurred several years ago.
According to Tien Phong’s investigation, SJC typically requests permission from the State Bank to refine the “one-letter” or deformed gold bars when they accumulate a significant quantity, approximately 1,000 taels, through repurchases from the market. However, in the past two weeks, SJC has stopped repurchasing these gold bars due to high inventory levels and uncertainty about when they will be allowed to refine them again.
