High Dubai gold price is not stopping budget-focused jewellery buyers

Dubai: Whatever the price, there is one category of gold buying that’s still happening across stores in the UAE – sales of the 15-20 grams of the ‘regular’ chains and bangles.

“At the Dubai Gold Souq, we are seeing low-budget categories priced under Dh3,000 still selling,” said Rohan Siroya, CEO of Evermore. “The (overall) Gold Souq shopper traffic has come down because prices are high and the high season is over."

These plain bangles and chains, obviously, come at lower making charges given that there is no design element involved. It's as plain-vanilla a design as it gets.

But that's fine with shoppers, because it means adding another 15-20 grams to their gold investments.

"The DSS 2025 (raffles) do add a bit of excitement among UAE resident-shoppers heading for their summer holidays.”

The Dubai gold price is at Dh369.5 a gram level for 22K and could once again push past Dh370 for the weekend. That would still be Dh5 or so higher than the Dh365 recorded during the final weekend in June.

The Dh365 remains the lowest local price of gold for 22K in the last 30 days. Hopes among shoppers of a price fall to around Dh360 continue to be dashed.

That’s the challenge shoppers and gold retailers are facing, with prices remaining sticky on the higher side. Which is why the fairly regular presence of those shoppers willing to spend up to Dh3,000 on plain gold chains and bangles offer some relief. (This DSS, spending Dh1,000 gets the shopper into the raffle draws against the Dh1,500 earlier.)

In a few days, more of UAE residents will have headed off for their summer breaks, which means less shoppers heading to the gold and jewellery stores.

Market sources say this has been the 'toughest summer' since the Covid times when it comes to jewellery demand. "Everyone is putting off their next designer jewellery purchase unless they see some price stability come in," said a retailer. "The everyday gold price fluctuations are hurting major sales."