Higher prices and custom duty dampened Indian demand in July
- Indian gold imports reached just 37.7t in July 2019 – 49% lower than the same month last year
- The domestic gold price was 2.3% higher in July compared to June; 23% higher y-t-d
- The custom duty on gold was unexpectedly raised by 2.5% in the Union Budget on 5th July
- With elevated domestic gold prices and a higher custom duty, the discount in the local gold market reached a peak of US$28/oz in July
- Volatile prices and weak physical demand encouraged healthy gold futures trading on MCX: volumes touched a high of 46.8t in July
