PRICE stability is what the Myanmar Gold Entrepreneurs Association (MGEA) was urged to seek during the association’s annual general meeting on October 24.

The man doing the urging was the Minister of Mining, Brigadier General Ohn Myint, who addressed the assembled traders, goldsmiths and Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) at the Panda Hotel in Yangon.

“When the association was founded [in 2002], the authorities fixed the price of gold at K25,000 per tical (1 tical is 0.576 ounces), but now there is no fixed price but we insist that prices do not change uncontrollably,” the minister said.

He added that when the world price increases, the domestic price must inevitably increase to keep domestically mined gold from leaking to other markets via illegal exports.

“The price of gold here changes according to the supply and demand theory, the exchange rate and world price. But the prices of a number of important commodities are dependent on gold, so it must be controlled,” said U Win Myint, president of the UMFCCI.

U Kyaw Win, MGEA secretary, also announced plans to open an office in northern Shan State within the next five months, eventually aiming to have branches in every state and division.

“MGEA will open a branch at northern Shan State and there is no black market anywhere in Myanmar because the authorities do not fix a price,” he said.

Meanwhile, U Kyaw Myint, the association’s vice president, related a recent instance of the body’s commitment to keeping prices stable.

“Last month, the government announced the issuing of a K5000 bank note and the price of gold jumped from K575,000 a tical to K620,000. We [the MGEA] held a meeting at once and brought the price back down to K587,000 per tical,” he said.