India gold imports slump 39%

mumbai — India’s gold imports shrank 39 per cent in May, according to a person familiar with the information, the fifth month of decline as the world’s secondlargest consumer enters a seasonally weak period for demand.

Imports contracted to 77.6 metric tonnes from 126.2 tonnes a year earlier, the person said, asking not to be identified as the figures aren’t public. The purchases exceeded the 52.7 tonnes in April and are the highest so far this year.

Finance Ministry spokesman D.S. Malik declined to comment on the numbers. Inbound shipments in the first five months of 2018 were 42 per cent lower on year at 289.3 tonnes. The monsoon months of June to August are considered to be a slow period for purchases as farmers and rural consumers, the bulk of the buyers, are busy with agricultural activities because of the rains. A weaker rupee, which makes imports costlier, and cooling demand have cut overseas purchases this year.

The South Asian nation has been one of the economies hardest hit by the emerging-market rout in the region, with the rupee down almost 5 per cent against the dollar this year. In India, which imports almost all the gold it consumes, more than half of the jewelry is bought for weddings and buying of bullion is considered auspicious during religious festivals.

“The market is quite silent,” with the wedding season nearly over, Ketan Shroff, joint secretary at the India Bullion and Jewellers Association, said from Mumbai. Supplies in the local market remain good with sellers offering discounts of about Rs7,00010,000 ($104-$149) per kilogramme, he said. — Bloomberg