Before the fact that more than 30 diamond businesses in Ho Chi Minh City closed or temporarily suspended operations, causing much concern for the market and consumers, a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper had an exchange with Mr. Nguyen Van Dung - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Jewelry and Gems Association - to clarify the cause of this situation.
Sir, currently in Ho Chi Minh City, there are more than 30 diamond businesses temporarily suspending operations or closing down. This reality makes many diamond owners worried. What recommendations does the Association have for people at this time?
- People should resell diamonds at the enterprise that has purchased them. If they are taken to another enterprise, many places will not accept to buy; if they accept, the repurchase price is also very low. When buying diamonds, there is usually a commitment between customers and businesses, which stipulates the repurchase policy of each unit.
Diamond owners need to remain calm and should not sell off. Because if they sell off at this time, the first to suffer is consumers, because many businesses do not accept purchases or only buy back at very low prices.
Therefore, if the business is temporarily closed, people should keep the diamonds and wait until the business resumes operations to carry out buying and selling or exchange transactions. Bringing diamonds to sell at other businesses will be very difficult to accept.
With dozens of diamond businesses and stores having to temporarily suspend operations or close, how do you assess the difficulties that the jewelry market is facing?
- No business wants to close down. Their goal is still to open up for trading, but the current context is causing many businesses to face many difficulties.
Over the past time, after some businesses were prosecuted and arrested by the police in diamond smuggling cases, market sentiment was significantly affected. Many customers were worried, so they simultaneously brought diamonds they had bought before to resell.
This creates great pressure on cash flow for businesses. While the number of sellers increased sharply, the number of new buyers was very small, causing many businesses to fall into liquidity difficulties and be forced to temporarily suspend operations.
Among the more than 30 businesses currently suspending operations, some have been prosecuted, but there are also many businesses not related to smuggling cases. However, due to the pressure of customers selling back too much, they are not liquid enough, so they have to temporarily close down.
In my opinion, this is just a temporary suspension for a period of time, because businesses must reopen sooner or later. Therefore, those who have bought diamonds at businesses that are temporarily suspended should wait until the business reopens to carry out resale or exchange, instead of rushing to bring them to sell elsewhere.
Besides the diamond market, recently, some gold trading stores have also closed. How do you assess the current situation of the gold market?
- In my opinion, the gold market is also facing many difficulties, in which the biggest problem is the origin of goods and input documents. In general, for many years, gold businesses, especially retail stores, have often taken goods from branches (where goods are transferred - PV) or production facilities. However, in many cases, goods when brought back do not have full invoices and input documents.
Therefore, when market management agencies actually inspect gold businesses, many jewelry products do not fully meet the requirements for origin documents. Therefore, businesses are inspected, goods are temporarily seized, fined and recovered according to regulations.
This makes many businesses worried. Some units no longer display many goods for sale because they are afraid that when inspected, they will not be able to present complete invoices and input documents.
Therefore, gold business activities are currently very quiet. Many stores are narrowing down the display of goods, transaction volume is decreasing, and consumer purchasing power is also lower than before.
- Thank you!
