Coronavirus: profit glitters for Malaysian goldsmiths even amid pandemic recession

Name: Malaysia’s gold industry cashes in on bullion rush as stock markets tumble under pandemic
Uploaded: 2020-12-05T05:30:22.000Z
Duration: 1 min 54 s
Description: Malaysia’s gold industry cashes in on bullion rush as stock markets tumble under pandemic

The Kelantan-based Makmur Gold company has enjoyed brisk business this year as buyers sought to park their cash somewhere safe

‘Women will buy these for beauty, but the benefit of buying gold is more towards our investment for the future,’ a customer says

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A customer trying on a bracelet at the Makmur Gold shop in Kota Bharu in Malaysia’s Kelantan state. Photo: AFP

Agence France-Presse

Published: 1:30pm, 5 Dec 2020Updated: 7:27pm, 7 Dec 2020

In a backroom workshop in Malaysia, goldsmiths with blowtorches and chisels sit at wooden desks as they melt and mould the precious metal into glittery jewellery.

Demand for the safe-haven commodity has soared during the coronavirus pandemic and it is not only professional investors who are cashing in, but small businesses too.

The Makmur Gold company, which is based in northern Kelantan state and mainly makes jewellery, has enjoyed brisk business this year even as the Southeast Asian nation’s economy fell into recession.

“We’ve seen good developments – during Covid, our sales were much better,” company director Muhammad Nur Hisyam Che Mahmood said.

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Malaysia’s gold industry cashes in on bullion rush as stock markets tumble under pandemic

Gold surged this year as the pandemic accelerated and stock markets tumbled, hitting a record above US$2,000 an ounce in August, although it has since slipped back to about US$1,800.