Indian Gold Imports Said to Drop for Fourth Month on Slow Demand
- Shipments halve in May to 31 tons from same month last year
- Prices in Mumbai rise 16% even as weak demand season begins
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Gold imports by India, which vies with China as the world’s top consumer, tumbled for a fourth straight month as a 16 percent increase in domestic prices since the start of the year kept buyers away, according to a person familiar with provisional Finance Ministry data.
Inbound purchases dropped 51 percent to 31 metric tons in May from a year earlier, the person said, asking not to be identified as the data aren’t public. The country imported 22 tons in April. Finance Ministry spokesman D. S. Malik declined to comment.