Lack of Customers
Gold and silver shops in the area around Cho Thiec market (District 11, Ho Chi Minh City) have been experiencing a lack of customers. Occasionally, some people come in to have their broken jewelry repaired or polished, but there are very few buyers.
Dinh Thy, a 42-year-old woman, walked through the gold shops on the front line of the market, looking to buy a baby anklet for her granddaughter’s full-month celebration. However, she couldn’t find anything to her liking. She wanted to buy a gold bangle, but the shops only had silver and stone jewelry. Another shop only had one gold ring, which wasn’t nicely crafted. “I asked to see more options, but the shop refused and said they only had that one piece. In the past, these shops used to display a variety of gold anklets and bangles, but now they only show one sample to customers,” said Ms. Thy.
On An Duong Vuong Street (District 5), known for its gold and silver shops, Ms. Lan, the owner of Khanh Hong Jewelry, shared a similar experience. When she asked customers for their ID cards to issue invoices, they refused and canceled their purchases. These customers claimed that they were just browsing and didn’t have their IDs with them. If the shop insisted on the ID requirement, they would take their business elsewhere.
“We need our customers’ IDs to report to the tax authorities. If we don’t, we could be fined during inspections. However, customers are not cooperative. Business has been slow since the beginning of the year, and now with these new regulations, it’s even more challenging,” shared Ms. Lan.
Gold shops in District 5’s jewelry district are seeing fewer customers. Photo: U.P.
The jewelry districts in District 5, Le Thanh Ton Street (District 1), and near Cho Tan Dinh (District 1) are also experiencing a similar lack of customers. Many gold shops in these areas now display mostly silver and gemstone jewelry, with only a few gold wedding bands. “Previously, we had a lot of gold jewelry with attractive designs from abroad. However, we stopped selling them when we learned that they violated regulations regarding origin and trademark infringement. This has resulted in a decrease in customers. The authorities are now strictly monitoring these regulations, so we can’t afford to be careless,” shared Mr. Duy, the owner of a gold shop in District 5’s jewelry district.
According to Lawyer Pham Ngoc Hung, Deputy Director of the Institute for Innovation and Sustainable Development, there is currently no regulation requiring customers to provide personal information when buying gold bars.
SJC Company on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street (District 1) and gold bar selling points of the four state-owned commercial banks have also seen a decrease in customers since switching to online sales. Many customers have expressed difficulty in successfully placing orders for SJC gold bars from these entities. Meanwhile, major gold brands like PNJ, Phu Quy, and Doji are also facing a dull market as they have run out of gold bars and plain gold rings, with no indication of when they will be back in stock.
Collecting Customer Information
Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee established a task force to ensure security in the city’s gold market, involving multiple units. Specifically, the Ho Chi Minh City Police are tasked with detecting individuals or organizations suspected of gold smuggling or hoarding gold for speculative purposes. They will then take the necessary legal actions or hand over the information to relevant authorities for administrative penalties.
The Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam is responsible for collecting and providing the city’s police with the daily list of individuals who purchase gold bars from SJC Company and the four commercial banks. This unit is also expected to propose solutions and advise SJC and the banks on detecting individuals suspected of being hired to buy gold or gold hoarders.
Customers providing ID cards when buying gold bars at SJC Company. Photo: U.P.
Representatives from the Anti-Money Laundering Department, the Banking Inspection and Supervision Agency, and the State Bank of Vietnam will promptly verify the money source used for gold purchases and assist in gathering documents from banks (account opening files, account statements, transaction vouchers, etc.) to clarify suspicions of gold hoarding or hiring people to buy gold. The Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Department will intensify inspections of gold trading establishments, especially those involved in smuggling, unclear origin, or trademark infringement. The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department will inspect tax compliance among gold jewelry manufacturers and traders suspected of tax evasion or accounting violations. They will also examine the source of gold raw materials to proactively detect any signs of gold smuggling.
On July 30, Mr. Nguyen Duc Lenh, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, issued a document requesting gold jewelry manufacturing enterprises in the city to take responsibility for the origin of gold raw materials used in their production. These enterprises must stamp the code and gold content on their products, declare applicable standards and product weight as required by law, and be accountable for the standards and weight of products they manufacture or outsource. They must also comply with accounting regulations, invoice and voucher usage, and have measures in place to ensure the safety of their production and business activities.
“Enterprises with a need for gold jewelry manufacturing must submit their applications to the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam to obtain a certificate of eligibility for gold jewelry manufacturing,” added the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam.
