Jewelers told myrepublica.com that they were passing through unpredictable situation in the market this festive season. They said gold market suffered in the pre-Teej days due to the shortage of the precious yellow metal at a time when demand had soared to as high as 25 kg a day. [break]
´The uncertainty surrounding fixation of prices and the limitation on the purchase of gold from banks were the reasons that led to slowdown in business,´ said Ravi Shrestha of Asri Jewelers Pvt Ltd, New Road. He further added that the sale of diamond jewelries, however, picked up despite decline in the sale of golden jewelries.
Traders are skeptic about the business prospects in coming festive days as they are not sure whether or not the controversies in the market would be settled.
Though almost all the jewelers in the town had introduced varieties of newly designed jewelries targeting the festive season, the slow response from the consumers discouraged them. Gold ornaments such as necklace, bangles, tilahari and mangalsutra are among the jewelries that are on high demand during the Teej festival.
Shrestha also blamed the slackness in the business to shifting shopping trends amongst the people. ´Consumers are on watch and wait situation, thanks to ongoing dispute over price fixation. Most of the people are waiting for the early solution to the prolonged dispute,´ he added.
R K Jewelers of New Road also saw slowdown in business in this Teej compared to past years. ´Not only the sale was affected, we are also facing difficulties in purchasing gold from dealers. This led transactions to drop drastically,´ a staffer of R K Jewelers told myrepublica.com.
Separate price fixations by different associations of gold and silver traders further worsened the situation because traders were left with no option but to consult other traders before fixing prices. This forced most of the consumers to hold back their festive shopping.
Sita Adhikari of Maitidevi is one such consumer who had to postpone her Teej shopping because of huge difference in gold prices. ´I wanted to purchase jewelry for Teej and visited different jewelry shops in and around New Road. But the difference in prices by more than Rs 600 per 10 grams forced me to postpone the purchase,´ Adhikari shared.
Around 25 kg of gold was traded every day during Teej last year, according to the traders. Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers" Association (Negosida) officials told myrepublica.com that they had expected the demand for yellow metal to climb to 35 kg during this Teej.
However, due to the adverse conditions prevailing in the market, gold transaction during the Teej festival was very nominal.
With no end in sight to uncertainties in gold market, traders expect the slowdown to continue even during Dashain and Tihar.
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