PRECIOUS METALS

Wedding gold loses its glitter

Md Hasan

Zaman looked very uneasy in the jewelry shop on Thursday evening, but his daughter Joya assured him that she would be happy whatever the amount of gold he managed to buy her to wear in her wedding ceremony.

Zaman relaxed a little, but he could not shake the feeling that despite having the same budget, Joya would be wearing considerably less gold than her older sister had five yearsago.

Soaring prices mean that this time round

Zaman has had to cut back on many things surrounding his daughters wedding. It's not a situation a middle class father expected himself to be in.

Amullya Malakar, the owner of the jewelry store, Venus Jewelers Ltd of Baitul Mukarram market, said Zaman was far from alone in his predicament. It is a problem known to every family heading for a wedding.

The price of 22 carat gold has almost tripled from Tkl0614 per bhroi (11.66 grams) in 2003 to Tk27,468 per bhoriin2008.

So, the question is how will Zaman and his daughter manage the upcoming wedding ceremony? The answer is also known by everybody— buy something that simply looks like gold.

"Gold customers now turn to cost effective silver and imitation products,” said M A Wadud Khan, president of Bangladesh Jewelry Samity (BJS). He said the demand for gold jewelry decreased by 50 percent

in last five years because of the rising price of the precious metal.

This trend has been marked by increased demand for gold plate that is made of low cost silver coated and brighten by liquid gold.

And while the gold price now goes beyond the majority of customers, silver remains affordable, yesterday costing Tk583 per bhori.

Once buying gold wasn't a big thing, now it really is a luxury purchase, the BJS president said.

Didarul Hoque of Al Harma Jewelers at the Baitul Mukkaram market said the demand for silver definitely increased in line with the gold price hike. Sales of silver made jewelry of Al Harma Jewelers, one of the exclusive shops for silver, jumped by more than 30 percent.

The customers demand for gold plate and stone set up jewelry7 are increasing, hesaid.

Asked why he added, “We felt the increased demand at the time when the price of gold increased.”

But according to some jewelers, price is not the only reason for the upturn in silver sales with a younger generation appreciating the wide range of designs available.

In Venus Jewelers Zaman and his daughter came to a mutual understanding not to buy more than two bhori of gold, considerably less that the five bhori her sister had enjoyed. The rest of Joya’s needs would have to be met with silver.

But while father and daughter were prepared to comprise, Zaman still had his worries. Would Joya's prospective husband agree with their plans?

hasan@thedailystar.net