DUBAI, 20 March 2008 — Record high gold prices dampened Dubai’s gold sales in February, depressing volume by about 15 percent from a year-ago, a top industry executive said on Tuesday. Dubai, the Gulf trade and business hub, is a traditional market for gold bullion and jewelry, meeting strong demand from the Arab world and India, the world’s main gold market.
“Relatively speaking, the 15 percent drop we saw last month is not bad, especially that prices are now above $1,000 an ounce,” Tawhid Abdullah, managing director of the Dubai Gold and Jewelry Group, an industry association, told Reuters. “The market is okay now, and overall, diamond Jewelry sales are compensating for the drop in gold Jewelry,” he said in an interview.
Dubai, one of seven members of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) federation, saw the volume of gold sales in the fourth quarter drop 30 percent on the year as high and volatile prices scared many buyers, Abdullah has said. UAE’s full-year 2007 gold demand rose 8 percent to 99.8 tons, but it fell 8.1 percent to 19.3 tons in the fourth quarter, the World Gold Council (WGC) has said.
