Gold sellers lose millions to unstable dollar rate

Gold jewellery sellers in Abuja suspended trading in the commodity on Thursday due to losses incurred as a result of unstable dollar exchange rate in the country.

Hamza Bagwai, chairman of the Abuja branch of the Association of Gold and Silver Jewelers, announced this in an interview with NAN.

Bagwai said the rise and fall in the dollar exchange rate had impacted negatively on the gold market, making profitable trading difficult.

He said with the high dollar rate, customers were no longer interested in buying gold but selling their old jewelries to make profit.

Bagwai said members of the association decided to stop buying back gold jewellery to avoid being thrown out of business.

“Last year, we sold English gold between N8,500 and N9,000; Saudi at N9,000 and Dubai between N9,500 to N10,000 respectively, depending on the complexity of the design,” he said.

“When a customer returns it, we buy it back at N5,000 per gramme for English and N6,000 for Dubai.

“So as dollar rises, so also the prices of gold. At the peak on Monday, we were selling Dubai gold for N15,000 per gramme and English, N13,000.

“Because of this, people have been queuing up to sell their gold. It was a nightmare.

“We bought it back at N10,000 per gramme and before we could send it to Dubai, we heard that the price had come down again.

“We lost millions based on this.”

Bagwai said for now, the marketers had restricted their business to customers who wanted to buy or upgrade their gold.

He said normal business would continue when the dollar rate stabilised at a price that was safe for profitable business.

According to NAN, the naira currently trades at N330 to a dollar in the parallel market, while pound sterling is at N375.