At present, in all domestic transactions, Vietnam still measures its gold in the “tael”, with 1 tael equaling 1.25 of an ounce.

“The launch [last Monday] was intended to provide a gold-measuring unit which is accepted the world over and prepare for the export of gold bars in the future,” Nguyen Thanh Long, SJC’s CEO said.

Half of the bullion was sold to banks and jewelry traders, with the remainder bought by individuals to use in payments, producer Saigon Jewelry Co. (SJC), said Monday.

SJC bars, made from Switzerland’s 999.9 pure gold and equivalent to 26.6666 tael, on Monday sold at over VND282 million (US$17,740) per bar.

The gold, at 999.9 parts per thousand gold is the highest purity of gold bullion or coin.

The company has also launched some seven million [1 tael] gold sheets to date, with over 810, 000 sheets in 2005 alone.    

SJC gold prices in HCMC on Sunday were quoted at VND10.5-10.6 million (US$659.8-666.1) per tael, VND800,000 ($50.3) higher than prices earlier this year.

Reported by Ngoc Son, Thanh Xuan – Translated by Ngoc Hanh