Commodity Online
NEW DELHI: India, the world’s largest consumer of gold, will import 600 tonnes of gold during 2009-10 fiscal, compared to 590 tonnes last year, said state-run MMTC Ltd, the country’s biggest importer of gold.

MMTC will import 150 tonnes of the yellow metal during the 2009-10 fiscal. The company will import 150 tonnes of gold this fiscal, MMTC chairman and managing director Sanjiv Batra said.

During the 2008-09 fiscal, MMTC is estimated to have imported close to 150 tonnes of gold, up by 23.52 per cent from 121.43 tonnes in 2007-08. The maximum buying took place in the August-November period.

Gold import so far has been sluggish with no inbound shipment in February and March owing to no demand in the domestic market following the high gold prices.

According to experts, gold imports in June will be about 10 tonnes as the demand has slowed down following high prices. Unless the prices come down, there will be no improvement in imports.

Currently, gold prices are ruling over Rs 14,600 per 10 gm in the domestic market, while in the international markets, gold prices were at 922.10 an ounce (28.34 gm).