Gold hits Tk 2,17,381: What this means for Dhaka jewellery buyers

I was mulling over the recent spike in the international gold market, and what is the story these days with gold in Dhaka? How are the jewellers holding up, and how hard has it hit those who invest in gold?

It is a nervous thought for me, not because I wanted to buy, but the gold price was Tk 2,17,381 per bhori on October 20, when I took notice of this outrageous rate.

"Gold jewellery is out of the reach of middle-income Dhaka. These are the people who bought small ornaments, like a gold chain, a nose pin, or a bangle whenever they had extra cash to spare. Puja, Eid, Pahela Baishakh, even for their personal celebrations like anniversaries or birthdays, they opted for gold," says Prohlad Kumar Saha, of Payel Gold & Diamond jewellery shop, in Police Plaza.

Police Plaza is a happening mall with a constant flow of shoppers, for which Saha can feel the pinch; yet he says many are buying gold as investments. What if prices soar even higher?

"Parents are making gold wedding sets for their young children now, for the fear of gold going out of their reach. We, the jewellers, face a tiff with such clients because the prices vary almost every day. A difference of Tk 4,000 matters a lot for them and us jewellers. The price can go up after they place the order, and they refuse to cover the difference, or it can go down, and they then bargain for the lower rate.

The market fluctuates frequently; the price changes overnight. Thus, the price when an order is placed, will change according to the delivery date's gold price. Bangladesh Jewellers' Association (BAJUS) feels that the buying and selling price of gold will only reflect the day's price," Saha explains. He had suffered due to this rapid price rise and fall.  

However, business is not bad in Dhaka. People are exchanging their old "shanatan shona" or traditional gold ornaments with carat gold now. Gold ornaments in Dhaka are made with 22-carat gold or 21-carat now, replacing the use of traditional gold that had too many parts of other metals in the alloy.

"The term carat (not to be confused with the gem weight carat) indicates the gold content present in the alloy out of its total 24 parts. Further clarification would be that 22-carat gold has 22 parts gold, with the remaining two parts being composed of other metals. Soon, the Dhaka market will no longer have traditional or shonatan gold ornaments," explains Saha, adding that a bhori is a traditional unit of weight for gold in Bangladesh, which is equivalent to 11.664 grammes.

Gold ornaments are given to daughters when they come of age. It is a sub-continental culture, a way of giving the newlyweds seed money to secure their future.

A woman's gold is not only her strength, but her investments; by nature, a woman likes to save for rainy days. Some of us may only save a few Takas in a bamboo pole, and some in gold. However, there are stories of how loved ones take advantage of their naivety and encash their gold, even if it is a mere nose pin, for liquid cash. But there are also stories of how a mother would sell her bangles for her son to start a business.

Anyway, from the days when my mother's wedding jewellery set was made in 1967, with traditional gold, for a mere Pakistani Rs 120 a bhori, and to compare it to today's price for that same traditional gold, you can clearly analyse the changing economic scenario of our lives in the last 58 years.

So, when you plan to sell your pre-owned fine jewellery, like your mother's "prem fash" or lover's knot chain, your mother-in-law's gold danglers like "chanbali" and "jhumka", and even the beautiful bangles like "ananta bala" your father gave you on your 16th birthday; think about it.