Gold investors who expected the Indian budget announced on July 10 to include more growth-oriented policies were disappointed when the newly elected government decided to keep the import duty on gold and silver unchanged at 10%.
The World Gold Council said earlier that smuggling would continue rising if import restrictions remained. Their research estimates that 75% of Indian households would either continue or increase their gold buying in 2014.
In four separate incidents spread over two days last month, customs officials arrested six passengers at just one airport who were attempting to smuggle gold into the country. Six kilograms of gold, estimated at $269,239 were confiscated.
Some analysts speculated that the Indian government’s decision to ignore the cries of the bullion industry to lower the duty were related to the fact that gold imports crossed double-digit figures for the first time in Gujarat, the hometown of new Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hmmm…
World Gold Council Hosts Debate on Gold Fix Reform (Mining Weekly)
The World Gold Council (WGC), a market development organization for the gold industry, convened a roundtable debate on Monday to discuss modernization of the London gold fix.
Steps to modernize the London gold fix, a century-old practice that is under scrutiny, follow the planned launch of the kilo-bar gold contract in Singapore, which will be traded transparently on the Singapore Exchange.
The event comes after the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority fined Barclays bank in May for manipulating the London gold fix.
For more on this topic, see last week’s Q&A with the Casey Metals Team.
Palladium Caps Longest Rally in 14 Years as Demand Gains (Bloomberg)
Palladium has gained 22% this year as output slowed during a five-month strike by 70,000 employees in South Africa that ended last month. Auto sales in the US headed for the biggest year since 2007, while retail deliveries of cars, multipurpose, and sport utility vehicles climbed 14% in China last month, the Passenger Car Association said.
