Someone didn't buy gold jewelry "intestines regret the green": bought a bunch of Swarovski, and now no one wants to recycle it

National Business Daily

2024-05-19 13:27Published on the official account of Sichuan Daily Economic News

Recently, the global market has ushered in a wave of "all-metal frenzy".

On Friday, gold and silver soared again, with silver prices climbing to new 11-year highs and gold prices also rebounding to record highs in April. After the epic short market in New York, copper prices on the New York and Shanghai stock exchanges hit new highs.

Over the weekend, a number of gold stores quickly raised the retail price of gold, and the current price of gold jewelry of various brands in China has reached around 740 yuan/gram, and the price of many gold stores has refreshed the previous record.

Jewelry gold came to 740 yuan/gram

Someone locked in and sold 12 catties of gold overnight

As of Friday's close, COMEX gold rose 1.44% to $2,419.8 an ounce, and London gold is now up 1.61% at $2,414.500 an ounce, according to WindS data. COMEX silver rose 6.36% to $31.775 an ounce, and London silver rose 6.60% to $31.490 an ounce, with silver hitting its highest since 2013.

For the next trend of gold, a number of institutions and analysts said that gold prices still have room to rise in the future, or will sprint to $2,500 / ounce. Analysts believe that inflation concerns catalyzed by future geopolitical events and expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts may be staggered to drive gold prices higher; In addition, in the process of global multipolarization, the central bank's continued large-scale gold purchases may play a supporting role in gold prices.

According to Chinanews.com, on the 18th, the retail price of domestic brand gold rose by up to 12 yuan, and the listing price of many gold stores once again set a new record, such as the listing price of Chow Sang Sheng has reached 740 yuan/gram, and Chow Tai Fook, Mancaron, Chao Hongji, etc. also listed a new high price of 739 yuan/gram. "It's 520 soon, and with such a high gold price, I'm afraid it will suppress everyone's enthusiasm for consumption." The senior manager of a jewelry store in Hangzhou said.

Xiao Shen, a staff member of a gold recycling company in Hangzhou, said, "On the evening of the 17th, the gold rushed up, and many customers wanted to sell gold, and the phone calls were one after another, and they were busy until almost 12 o'clock." "These customers call Xiao Shen to lock in the selling price of gold." The locked-in price means that the customer has gold in his hand, but he can't trade on the spot at night, so he recalls the price in real time on the evening of the 17th, such as 563 yuan/gram, locks in and sells, and whether it rises or falls, it is traded at this price. ”

Xiao Shen revealed that on the evening of the 17th, customers locked in 6 kilograms of gold, "everyone saw that the price of gold rose sharply, and the shot was active again, and the gold price fell in the early stage, and the transaction was relatively light." ”

The girl turned out a pile of Swarovski

Regret not buying gold: what a tear of the times

"It's really the tears of the times, I haven't bought this kind of brand for many years, and it used to be quite popular." According to Chao News, Miss Li, a white-collar worker in Hangzhou, showed her baby, large and small crystal jewelry filled a whole piece, "This is a limited panda model, and the heart of the ocean that was very popular back then, this Cinderella's crown, I also wore it when I got married, to be honest, I regret it a little, Swarovski is all artificial crystal, it has no value at all now, and no one wants to recycle, if you buy a gold crown when you get married, it will be worth it now." Ms. Li was saddened by the "investment failure" when she was young.

Also in an awkward situation is the girl's magic box, Pandora. These popular light luxury jewelry brands seem to have fallen out of favor overnight, and many netizens are sighing on social media - "It's really the tears of the times" and "Are there any big injustices to buy?" "It's ugly and expensive." "It's better to buy gold!"

According to a previous report by Red Star News, "diamonds are eternal, one will last forever", the global "king of jewelry" De Beers, whose parent company Anglo American Group is considering selling the company recently.

According to statistics, in 2022, China contributed half of the global production of lab-grown diamonds, 80% of which came from Henan. Zhecheng County, Henan Province, is known as the "Global Man-Made Diamond Capital", with an annual lab-grown diamond production capacity of 6 million carats. In the face of cheap and high-quality lab-grown diamonds, expensive natural diamonds no longer hold their value, and the overall price has fallen by a third in two years.

De Beers saw a 23% drop in rough diamond production in the first quarter of 2024 and lowered its production guidance for this year to a range of 26 million carats to 29 million carats from 29 million to 32 million carats, according to data from Anglo American. And in 2023, De Beers' average selling price fell by 6% and sales fell by as much as 19%, resulting in De Beers' operating loss of $314 million in 2023.

A number of gold shops in Vietnam have bought out gold bars

Koreans fall in love with "mini gold bars"

According to the Financial Associated Press, in the context of the sharp rise in gold prices during the year, the "gold rush" is also staged in other countries. Recently, many downtown gold shops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have sold out of gold goods, and the current price of gold in Vietnam has repeatedly broken record highs. "I'm sorry, but our shop is sold out of gold bars and rings." An employee at a store in Hanoi of the Saigon Jewellery Company (SJC) told a customer. All other stores that the customer called gave the same answer.

Tran Nhan Tong Street in Hai Ba Central District, Hanoi is a popular spot for gold buyers. On this street, some shops accept pre-orders – i.e. customers pay now and receive gold bars in the next two to four weeks, regardless of how the price changes at that time. Some stores stipulate that each customer can only buy five taels of gold bars, but only let customers take one tael with them, and promise to deliver the remaining four taels within the next two weeks.

Waiting times at other stores can be as long as six weeks. But even though it has been sold out of stock, many Vietnamese people are still rushing to pay for the pre-order, saying that it doesn't matter if they pick up the goods after a month. A set of price comparisons shows that the current gold price in Vietnam is about 92.4 million VND per tael, which is nearly 28% higher than the global gold price.

According to CCTV News, citing the CNBC website of the United States, a few days ago, the Korean convenience store chain brand CU cooperated with the South Korean foundry and security printing company to produce mini gold bars. Since April, a wide range of fingernail-sized mini gold bars weighing between 0.1 grams and 1.87 grams have been sold in CU stores.

It is reported that the price of 1 gram of mini gold bars is 113,000 won (about 600 yuan) each, and it was sold out within 2 days of being put on the shelves. Customers in their 30s are the largest group of buyers of mini gold bars, and the World Gold Council recently said that demand for gold bars and coins in South Korea increased by 27% year-on-year to 5t in the first quarter of this year due to rising international gold prices, the largest quarterly increase in gold purchases in South Korea in more than two years.

Editor|Wang Yuelong, Yi Qijiang

Proofreading|Duan Lian

The daily economic news integrates from public information, Chinanews.com, Chao News, Red Star News, Finance Associated Press, CCTV News

National Business Daily