While banks only sell gold bars to people, many stores in Hanoi only buy them because they have run out of gold, and many customers have difficulty making transactions.
At the end of June 6, at SJC store – a place to sell gold at stable prices – there were still many people standing outside waiting in line to buy. Many people said that although the price of gold outside the market has dropped to the price at the bank, customers cannot buy it so they have to queue here, even though they know it is very crowded and time-consuming.
Due to the large number of customers, for ease of control, the store only allows 3-4 people to transact at a time.
Ms. Hong (Long Bien district) said that when she saw the price of gold continuously falling, she rushed to buy it to pay off her debt. But she spent 4 days lining up and still couldn’t buy it. “From the first day I went to buy, but in many places I went, every time they opened the sale, they ran out of gold because many people bought in large quantities. This morning when I came, I also ran out of gold, and came back in the afternoon to get the gold to buy. lined up and waited for 3-4 hours and still it wasn’t my turn,” she said.
Although he was luckier to get number 35 out of 50 votes lined up this afternoon, Mr. Diep still could not buy the right gold. “I had to line up from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. to be able to buy. This morning, they limited the sale to 3 gold bars per person. By the afternoon, it was reduced to only 1 tree. If I wanted to buy more, I couldn’t. So I guess I I still have to come back another day to buy more,” Mr. Diep said regretfully.
At Vietinbank’s gold selling point (81 Hue Street, Hai Ba Trung District), people also lined up waiting to buy gold. Many people waited too long or came but the bank had run out of services so they had to return.
Announced gold bar selling price on June 6 at Vietinbank is 76.98 million VND/tael. This price has dropped very deeply, to more than 15 million VND/tael compared to the historical peak of more than 92 million VND/tael. Therefore, gold bars are very attractive to people to buy. But not everyone gets what they want.
A customer said he was given number 133 by the bank and promised to come next Monday (June 10) to buy gold. “I came and had to go back, but I was still lucky to have a number so I could buy it later, but many people couldn’t wait for the lottery to be distributed. I’m just worried that in a few days the price of gold will increase again. I’m at a loss,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the free market, in contrast to banks, many gold shops on Tran Nhan Tong Street (Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi) only buy, not sell, gold. This makes customers who cannot wait to buy at the bank unable to return here to buy.
The reason given by the store is that SJC gold bars are currently out of stock. “The store only buys SJC gold bars, does not sell them, and only sells a maximum of 1 gold ring per customer,” an employee announced.
Because the store does not sell gold, the trading atmosphere here is very deserted and gloomy, different from the crowded scene with long lines to buy gold like before.
Stores said that in recent days, when gold prices have continuously dropped sharply, very few people bring gold to sell, so stores have no resources to store it. They temporarily stopped selling gold bars due to supply shortage.
Phu Quy gold and silver store also announced that it was out of SJC gold bars. Many customers want to avoid having to wait long at the bank so they come here to buy but have to return empty-handed.
The stores were deserted, with only a few people coming to buy plain gold rings. “It’s true that it’s very difficult to buy gold these days. The places that sell gold are too crowded, you can’t wait to buy, and the places that are deserted don’t want to sell. Customers keep looking around everywhere and still can’t buy, they only know regret. when the price has dropped very deeply. Hopefully this situation will soon improve so that people can easily buy gold at a more stable price,” said Mr. Hoai Nam (Hai Ba Trung district).