One night in Bangkok

Discussion in 'Gold' started by JulieW, May 23, 2011.

  1. JulieW

    JulieW Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    I thought people may be interested in a bit of a gold tour of Bangkok.

    Gold shops everywhere, all trading 'bahts'
    (The baht is also a unit of weight for gold, commonly used by jewellers and goldsmiths in Thailand. One baht = 15.244 grams.[7] Since the standard purity of Thai gold is 96.5%, the actual gold content in one baht is 15.244 0.965 = 14.71046 grams, or about 0.4729523 troy ounce. 15.244 grams is used for "raw" gold or bullion; in the case of jewellery, 1 baht should be more than 15.16 grams. - from wikipedia)

    You can buy your gold as amulets, chains, bangles or ingots. Not many coins to be found but I happened upon a couple of Kruggerands. They all know what a Kruggerand is, but Oz coins get that blank look. Everyone keeps track of the price in US dollars and daily sign writes the current prices and spreads on the windows. Totally uninterested in buying coins from foreigners for other than spot minus a fair bit, so if you're travelling here, PM and PAMP ingots is the way to go. By way of reference quotes for buying sovs and 200 coins were around 310 - 320 purely based on 22ct. (totally forget numis - they are not interested) Thai gold is 23ct and they are all putting it away as they can afford.

    I was talking to a restaurant owner and a factory owner who were bemoaning the difficulty finding staff who would stay for more than a week or two. So higher wages and inflation is currently underway here. They have a monthly business meeting with other entrepreneurs and all are nervous about the world economy and its effect on Thailand. Hence they are buying gold whenever they can and they had what I thought to be a fairly cautious and negative approach to the balance of 2011.

    Silver is everywhere as 'sterling' and quoted at 97.5%. 'Chiang Rai' silver is common in jewellery and is relatively cheap but a ring will send your finger green in a few hours. As for the sterling, there are no bargains to be had and ingots and coins are almost non-existent as far as I can tell.

    On the fiat front, be aware that the banksters will rob you blind and if you're visiting bring cash Oz dollars which are readily convertible for around 5% better than the bank rate and you also avoid the 4% or so 'ATM' fees. If you're negotiating in gold shops, cash dollars are also handy. The consensus of my Thai Commerce friends was that none of their members are saving in US dollars and view AUD as a rubber ball currency 'too much bounce'. Their final words were 'only gold will keep you safe'.

    I couldn't have said it better myself.
     

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