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Publication Date : 31-01-2013

The Vietnam Gold Traders Association has called for the removal of the 10 per cent tariff on gold jewellery products which have more than 80 per cent gold content.

In a letter to the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Viet Nam, the association said exports of Vietnamese gold jewellery products had come to a deadlock since the tax rate came into effect in 2011.

'The challenging domestic economy environment which had resulted in poor demand for gold jewellery had caused gold traders extreme difficulties, forcing them to cut jobs, the association said.

Business opportunities for gold traders were increasingly narrow, especially since the government had tightened gold production and trading activities under Decree 24, it said.

Many businesses who were not eligible to produce and trade gold bars wanted to promote gold jewellery exports but they faced high tariffs.

The association said that for many years other countries in the region had slashed tariffs on gold jewellery and fine arts to zero to exploit potential in the sector. In Thailand, for example, exports of gold jewellery hit an average of about US$3 billion each year.

Vietnam had a lot of potential and competitive advantages in producing gold jewellery for exports. However, the new tax rate made such exports less competitive compared with products from other countries which had a zero tax rate, it noted.

The association asked that the zero tax rate on gold jewellery which had a gold content of less than 80 per cent be left unchanged.