Head of Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union: We Have Not Had Even 10% Production Since the Beginning of the Year

The head of the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union states that due to the issues causing the closure and strikes of gold sellers in recent weeks, there has been "not even 10% production at the national level" since the beginning of the year. Nader Badrahshan said on Saturday, June 5, to the ISNA news agency that this statistic is not good at all and may create future problems for the gold industry, especially for production units, leading them to suffer financial and economic damages. He further emphasized that preventing this situation requires officials to take action to resolve the issues. Over the past few years, the government has not only imposed taxes on the buying and selling of coins but has also subjected the sale of gold and jewelry to value-added tax, and the government's recent decision to impose "capital gains tax" on gold sellers has led to widespread strikes in this sector. In recent weeks, the government has also closed dozens of gold sellers' shops in response to their strikes. The continuation of the gold sellers' strike, which is mainly taking place in large cities across the country, has forced the government to retreat, and ultimately, on Tuesday, May 24, the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade announced in a letter to the head of the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union that the registration of gold inventory [and assets] in the Comprehensive Trade System is not applicable to manufacturing and gold selling units and is "only mandatory for gold production." However, the gold sellers' strike continued, and the head of the Iranian Chamber of Guilds claimed on May 30 that the concerns of gold sellers had been addressed and threatened that if individuals wanted to declare that they would not open their shops after the problems were resolved, "we will deal with them seriously." The thirteenth government claims that the "Comprehensive Trade System" for registering the gold assets of gold sellers is designed solely to facilitate traders' access to domestic trade information and to enable oversight and organization of various sectors of the buying, selling, and trading market. This claim contradicts the initial objectives of registering gold sellers' assets in the Comprehensive Trade System, which was created to implement "capital gains tax" on gold sellers. The gold and jewelry market in Iran has been in severe recession since last year. Statistics from the World Gold Council show that the purchase of gold jewelry by Iranian citizens decreased by 9% last year compared to 2022, and there has been no change in the first three months of this year compared to the same period last year. Iranians purchased about 27.3 tons of jewelry in 2023, while this figure was 45 tons in 2017, before the U.S. sanctions against Iran.