Vietnam to welcome 2014 with duty-free gold jewelry exports

HANOI (Scrap Monster): The Vietnam Ministry of Finance has resolved to scrap export duty on gold jewelry from January 1, 2014. According to the notification released by the Ministry, export duty on gold jewelry and fine works will be eliminated. On the other hand, the export tax on material gold will be set at 2%.

As per the prevailing rates decided in 2011, the country levies a tax of 10% for exports of material gold of less than 99.99 % purity. The export of gold jewelry above 80% purity also attracts tax of 10%. The extremely high duty structure is said to have damaged Vietnam’s gold industry. The abolition of duty is aimed at encouraging businesses to export jewelry. The Ministry noted that several neighboring countries have reported robust growth in gold jewelry exports after eliminating export duties.

The Vietnam Gold Traders Association has welcomed the move, saying that the decision would open doors of gold jewelry exports to many destinations especially Turkey, Dubai and China where Vietnamese jewelry are in huge demand.

According to data, the country has nearly 12,000 gold trading companies, but majority of them are small-scale companies which trade in minor quantities of gold jewelry. From last year, import and export of gold by the country is taken care by the State Bank of Vietnam. The Finance Ministry notification states that 2% export tax is to be levied only when the State Bank of Vietnam allows companies to import or export material gold.