Saigon Jewelry Co, the producer of the national gold brand SJC, has detected more than 6,260 gold bars produced by other companies whose purity is far less than the 99.99 percent the makers claim. The substandard gold bars account for as much as 10 percent of the total non-SJC gold bullion sent to SJC to be converted into the national brand, the company said. The discovery has greatly concerned holders of non-SJC gold bullion, as the gold bars with below-par purity will only be bought at the prices of the gold material, while the bars have reportedly been bought at far lower prices than the rates of SJC. “Some producers were found to make gold bullion of only 55 to 57 percent purity,” said SJC general director Do Cong Chinh. The supervision board formed by the State Bank of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City branch has reported the case to its superior, while SJC has also informed other gold bullion producers about the issue. “No one posted any objection to our conclusion during a meeting in late October,” Chinh said. The standard for SJC gold bullion was determined as late as 1990, under the Swiss standard, the CEO said. SJC is committed to gold bullion that is always 99.99 percent pure, he said, adding that the company has never cared about the quality standards of other producers. “But with the central bank allowing non-SJC gold bars to be converted into our products, we have to pay close attention to the quality and purity checks,” he explained. In response to the question of whether the gold bullion has lower purity because it is unclean, Tran Thu Anh, deputy director of the Tan Thuan SJC Jewelry Co, said it is a weak argument. “There is a producer with 500 out of the 1,000 gold bars it sent to SJC for conversion failing to meet purity standards,” he said. “So how could it be blamed on dirty bars?”Producers protest In response to SJC’s announcement about the below-par purity of gold bullion, many gold companies asserted that their products are 99.99 percent pure. “Our AAA gold bullion has relatively similar quality and purity to SJC products,” insisted Nguyen Thanh Trung, chairman of Agribank Gold. Other producers also expressed their skepticism over the purity testing machinery of SJC. “On which grounds are the SJC machines set as a norm for the testing, while our machines produce results showing that the gold bullion still meets standards?” one of the companies wondered. SJC representatives said the testing and conversion processes are both done under the supervision of the central bank. Meanwhile, the deputy director of a gold company in HCMC said the central bank in fact does not manage gold bullion quality. “Prior to the nationalization of the gold bullion brand name, every qualified company could apply for the license to produce gold bullion,” he said. Hence, there is in fact no Vietnamese standard for gold bullion, and some producers have in fact made gold bars of only 99.9, or 99 percent purity, he said.
More
The silent services at a unique barbershop in Hanoi
The shop owner and his wife communicate solely through text on their phones and pointing at posters
Read more
Vietnamese man not charged $352,000 in highly controversial credit card debt case
The lender already met with him to reach a win-win solution
1 day agoHo Chi Minh City’s District 6 to open 1,510sqm night quarter
The night quarter will open from 6:00 pm till midnight
1 day ago11 billionaires to attend investment promotion conference in Vietnam’s Binh Dinh
These billionaires come from Thailand, South Korea, Sweden, Israel, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates
1 day agoVietnam boosts coal imports as it promises investors no more power cuts
Vietnam's coal imports so far this year have nearly doubled from the same period of 2023
2 days agoVietnam’s Pacific Airlines says $220mn debt written off
The airline began temporarily suspending its operations on Monday
1 week agoHighlights
A glimpse of location set for future night quarter in Ho Chi Minh City
Binh Tay Market, a renowned architectural relic and tourist attraction in the city, will spotlight the night quarter
Photos
Artist paints murals on house to raise awareness of COVID-19 prevention in Hanoi
He drew the virus, vaccine, and earth on the exterior walls of a house
Latest news
2 Chinese men arrested for attempting to illegally send 21 Vietnamese to Laos
The cost of illegal exit was set at 280 Chinese yuan (US$38.7) per person
A glimpse of location set for future night quarter in Ho Chi Minh City
Binh Tay Market, a renowned architectural relic and tourist attraction in the city, will spotlight the night quarter
Renovation underway at abandoned downtown park in Vietnam’s Nghe An
Park-goers in recent years discovered that the play zone and some other facilities of the park became deserted and aging
Vietnamese nurse on vacation saves Indian tourist from sudden cardiac arrest
Her timely and accurate first aid helped save the man's life
Vietnam, US pledge to push comprehensive strategic partnership forward: foreign ministerial dialogue
The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation in building semiconductor ecology and diversifying supply chains
Vietnam calls for prompt compliance with UNSC’s resolution on immediate Gaza ceasefire
Vietnam has repeatedly called for an end of violence in Gaza and strongly condemned attacks on civilians and civil infrastructure in the region
Vietnam attends ASGP meeting in Geneva
The meeting took place between Sunday and Tuesday this week in Geneva, Switzerland
Vietnam receives N.Korea’s Workers’ Party delegation
The delegation, led by Kim Song Nam, director of the International Department of the WPK Central Committee, is visiting Vietnam from Monday to Thursday this week
Marriages between S. Korean women, Vietnamese men triple since 2013
Vietnamese men are currently the third largest group of foreign husbands in South Korea, after China and the U.S.
Container truck catches fire on bridge in Ho Chi Minh City
The blaze rapidly engulfed and charred the front end of the truck