India Gold - Customer Zone - Reuters

COMMODITIES GOLD GOLD: REBOUNDS WILL RISK SHIVER BATTERED AVERSION ON JAPAN AFTER BY BANISH DEBT SHARPEST U.S. CREDIT DOWNGRADE CORRECTION LOSS DOWNGRADE SINCE DESPITE FEARS? MAY CORRECTION FEARS AUGUST 2011
The retail price at Japan's largest bullion house Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo was 4,745 yen per gram on Aug. 23, excluding the 5
percent consumption tax, the highest since September 1980. Retail gold peaked in January 1980 at 6,495 yen.
Selling of gold has snowballed since the start of August, unlike in January 2008 when a spike in gold prices led to an explosive
but short-lived gold sales boom, said Osamu Ikeda, Tanaka's general manager.
"Selling accelerated in August as gold rallied to historic highs, and that is symbolic of a matured Japan," Ikeda said.
Ikeda said the amount of gold for investment purposes that the house bought back from customers more than doubled to 10.2
tonnes as of Aug. 23 from 4.3 tonnes in July. At the Aug. 23 prices this would be worth around 48.4 billion yen.
Sellers are not limited to retired or retiring generations nor shops confined to established bullion houses.
"Customers bring all sorts of jewelry, gold cups, watch, teeth, but sometimes desperate ones bring fake gold or even their talismans,"
said Seiichi Nakamura, manager at confectionary retail chain Nakamuraya.
"A lot of stores of this kind appeared recently, so that it turned into sort of a survival game," he said, adding the number of
customers, mainly women in their 40-50s, had doubled to 20 a day in recnt days.
Media playing up the surge in gold is also driving the move.
"The media helped us, I think. When people learned there is a boom for selling gold now, they decided to do it too. It's like a
chain effect," said shop manager Kenta Okiyama at antique dealer Otakaraya.
Tanaka Kikinzoku's Ikeda said buying interest has picked up, even in the physical market, from those in their 30s and 40s, although
sellers still outnumber buyers by 5 to 1. "It used to be one-way flows of just sellers. Now, there are sellers to book profits
and some buyers betting on further rises in prices," Ikeda said.
NET GOLD EXPORTER
As long as Japanese remain sellers as the price rallies, Japan is set to be a net gold exporter for the sixth consecutive year in
2011.
But households' growing desire to profit from a bullish market outlook may cap the total export volumes below the 2008 peak
of 95.5 tonnes, just as they did last year. Between January-June, Japan exported a total 45.8 tonnes of gold, compared to 46
tonnes the same period a year go. Net exports at 43 tonnes exceeded 39 tonnes a year earlier.
Japan exported a total of 91 tonnes of gold and imported 13 tonnes in 2010, resulting in record net exports of 78 tonnes, about
a quarter of annual output from top miner China.
Japanese households were seen holding about 1,500 tonnes of gold last year, so the net exports may have reduced the
amount to around 1,400 tonnes now, industry officials say.
"There is still lots of gold in this country. Net exports could hit records again this year," Ikemizu said.
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