Jewelers expect strong demand during Dhanteras

The industry expects trends in 2021 to enable the gold price to reach pre-Covid level sales of 2019 as hovered. ₹A senior official of an industry body said 46,000-47,000 per 22 carat 10 grams of gold is about 5% less than in 2020, and there is a jump in the number of weddings.

“Since Navratri is showing market demand. It will continue on Dhanteras also. This year the festive mood is strong as the pandemic is under control, gold prices are low and the wedding season is strong. This year around 40 per cent annually in the months of October-November. % will account for sales,” Ashish Pethe, chairman of All India Gems and Jewelery Domestic Council told PTI.

The national apex body of the gems and jewelery industry expects that in 2021, the industry will return to the pre-Covid pandemic year of 2019. However, the price of gold is up almost 20% from 2019 levels.

“Sales are expected to come back to pre-covid levels with a growth of 15-20% over last year. The trend of buying jewelery this year has been about living life to the fullest. Two years of mental anxiety and Following challenges, customers want to spend and invest in jewelery for happiness and wealth creation,” said Suvankar Sen, CEO, Senco Gold & Diamonds. Somasundaram PR, Managing Director, World Gold Council India, said, “We expect this quarter to be one of the best in recent years, which is the benchmark for the pre-covid season. Decreased demand, softer prices and a good monsoon, are among the regions. This, combined with the easing of the lockdown in the U.S., indicates a strong jump in demand.”

The World Gold Council said gold demand in India grew 47% year-on-year (YoY) to 139.1 tonnes from 94.6 tonnes in the year-ago period, higher than 2019.

Gold jewelery demand in India grew 58% YoY to 96.2 tonnes during the July-September 2021 period due to strong demand. Gold demand in India has rebounded sharply in 2020 from the lows seen during the Covid pandemic.

The e-commerce sales craze is expected to remain subdued from 2020 as the panic of infection has subsided and online transactions of light jewelery will be done.

“We expect 5% of our sales to be online. Light jewelery will be sold online while heavy jewelery will be from stores,” Sen said.

Investments through digital gold and exchange traded funds have picked up during Dhanteras. Net inflows of Indian Gold ETFs continue to grow, with their value rising year-on-year to $433 million. While global gold-backed ETFs saw net outflows in September.