According to the Federation of Gold and Silver Dealers´ Association, around 20 percents of its member jewelers did not open shops on the day.[break]
While some jewelers said they closed their shops due to shortage of gold, others said they didn´t want to suffer loss by selling gold at low price.
Gold supply in the market worsened further on Wednesday after NMB Bank - the designated supplier - failed to make gold available to the wholesalers. Sunil KC, deputy director of NMB Bank, said the bank didn´t stop supply deliberately. “We received consignment form the customs late in the afternoon only. We were simply unable to provide gold to traders during office hours,” KC said, adding that supply will become smooth from Thursday.
Officials of the federation also said they couldn´t issue recommendations to wholesalers in time. As per the existing practice, designated banks sell gold to traders only on recommendations of the federation.
“We couldn´t issue recommendations on time as we were studying the supply details submitted to us by the wholesalers,” said Mani Ratna Shakya, president of the federation.
Large number of people thronged jewelry stores on the day. But most of them had to return empty-handed, as majority of jewelers were not selling gold at all.
“When the price dropped on Monday, many customers were on ´wait and watch´ mood. But when the price dropped on Tuesday as well, the demand for gold increased drastically,” Shakya said, adding, “We were simply unable to meet the surging demand due to supply constraints.”
According to officials of the federation, demand for gold has increased by around 50 percent. The average daily demand for gold in the capital hovers around 30 kg.
“We sold jewelries and took fresh orders only from our regular clients. We did this, even though we suffered huge loss, keeping in view our long-term business relations with them,” said Uttam Shakya, proprietor of Surya Bahadur and Sons Jewelry Shop at Wotu.
Meanwhile, Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM) is collecting information from Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) about the supply situation of gold in the market.
“We will conduct market monitoring once we receive information about supply and stock of gold in the market,” said Narayan Prasad Bidari, director general of DoCSM.
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