Goldsmithing: profession associated with cheating and smuggling [Archives:2004/721/Business & Economy]

Mahyoub Al-Kamaly
The goldsmith profession in Yemen is among the crafts inherited generation by generation. Those working in this profession are required to be accurate and honest, in addition to possessing artistic sense. But the problem facing the goldsmithing industry is that the Yemeni market is not integrated into certain foreign markets for buying raw gold, that the expatriates form a major source of transactions in the local market, and that 50% of worked gold comes from smuggling operations.
In a tour of the showrooms and workshops of the Sana'a's markets specializing in goldsmithing we have found gold moldings and formations that look gorgeous, but some owners of trade shops believe that the gold industry is exposed to cheating in local workshops, despite all scales used for gold being regulated centrally in Sana'a and other cities.
A'mer Abdullah Ali, a professional goldsmith, says that the types of gold spread in the local markets are Yemeni and Gulf, particularly that of Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. There are various standards of gold: 21,22, and 24 carats standards. Most known in Yemen are the 18 and 21 carat standards. The latter is a Gulf standard, the demand for which is increased due to the degree of purity, high quality and good workmanship. Mr A'mer adds that prices of gold in the market are influenced by world prices, supply and demand and the national exchange rate against the dollar, whereas external gold is subject to international criteria. Local gold is not subject to those criteria and that causes the decrease in the price of Yemeni gold because of its low purity and increased proportion of copper in it.
A gold workshop owner in Sana'a, Ahmed Musa'ad, says the cheated gold has a high percentage of copper but it is difficult to detect without the use of a touchstone and aqua regia, or without examining the diluted pieces at specialized laboratories. He clarifies that cheated gold is mostly found in earrings and gold-filled rings. He also sees that the profession of the goldsmith is an inherited one and that honesty is an important trait demanded from those working in it at the gold workshops.
One problems facing those working in gold industry, Mr al-A'nsy says, is the customers' lack of awareness. The consumer finds it difficult to distinguish between the good and the bad gold, in addition to the low quality of the local gold. A gold shop owner on Shaoub Street in the Capital spoke about the importance of ensuring quality accuracy and subjecting local gold to international standards, confirming that the role played by the State Authority for Specifications and Standardization is merely the supervision and monitoring of weights. Gold workshop owners they are not monitored.
Mr Nabil al-Raimi says the workers in silverware have started to prefer trading in gold and some of them are marketing gold in major cities. He says cheating in goldsmith work began to decrease because gold workshop his owners are now obliged to hallmark their name and shop name on manufactured gold articles, and if it is discovered that he has cheated the articles would be returned to him to deter him from repeating the offence. On the smuggled gold Mr al-Raimi indicates that goldsmith workshops owners who buy broken gold articles from citizens discover that those articles were not subjected to customs duties, adding that there is difference in price between gold imported legally and the smuggled gold.
Prices of Gulf origin gold are different from local gold. The merchants say the cause of the high price of Saudi, Bahraini, Emirates and Indian gold is attributed to their higher wage level.
At the time the gold market is witnessing a recession in gold articles sales, a gold shop owner in Bab al-Yemen in old Sana'a, Najeeb al-Shareef, says only those who know the rules and traditions of the gold industry can succeed in it. Some shop owners have their own goldsmithing workshops and integrated factories for analyzing gold and determining the amount of gangues and also for changing the standard of gold from one to another in a scientific way, such as changing 24 carats into 21 or 18 by adding an internationally recognized portion of copper. Nevertheless, owners of trade shops find it difficult to deal with smuggled gold due to the high percentage of cheating, which would defame the reputations of those shops and gold industry in the local market.
Despite of the negative effects of gold smuggling on the local market and there is a large proportion of the workforce working in the profession of goldsmithing, but sales flourish primarily during the seasons of religious festivals and weddings.
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