Domestic bullion industry losing lustre due to grey market threat

• With gold smuggling on the rise, the domestic bullion industry is in the doldrums. In the past few months, 32 gold refineries in the country, having a combined refining capacity of 1450 tonnes per annum, have closed down.

• Add to this the retrenchment that experienced manpower in this industry is facing, and you have a ballooning problem on hand. The official imports of gold, or bullion, have come down by 60 per cent in the past 4 months, whereas domestic bullion supply is increasingly being taken over by the grey market, including by stock that is smuggled in, for a variety of reasons.