It’s not been a happy Chinese New Year for Pattaya gold shops as, despite lower-than-expected prices, people are buying gold bars for themselves rather than jewelry.
Chinese New Year traditionally is one of the biggest times of the year for gold shops as Thais of Chinese ancestry go shopping and spend a lot of money.
But the ongoing coronavirus pandemic ongoing and rising prices for everything except gold have stunted this year’s market.
Banchong Banthoonprayuk, president of the Pattaya-Naklua Gold Shops Club and owner of the Tongdee Yawaraj gold shop, said that because Chinese New Year was so early this year – it often falls around Valentine’s Day – people do not want to spend for more gifts or use gold as raffle prizes as usual.
Banchong said that instead of buying ornamental gold, people are turning to buying gold bars, which come in many sizes and weights that are easy to store securely and command a better price than ornamental gold when sold.
On Saturday, though, that wasn’t the case: A 1 baht-weight gold bar was selling for 28,450 baht versus 28,950 baht for ornaments.
The “buy” price for bars was 28,350 baht versus 28,834 for ornaments.
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