The government has approved a Finance Ministry proposal to increase gold bullion imports to 16,600 kilograms a year, more than double last year’s volume.

          The appointments of Gold Traders Association and Authorized Gold Dealer Co. as additional gold distributors ended the year-old monopoly by the world’s largest bullion dealer and Thailand’s official importer Mocatta & Goldsmid Co. “The availability of gold is a major consideration for foreign investors in Thailand’s jewelry industry,” Saliou told JewelSiam. “A shortfall forces the investor to work with smuggled gold of which there are different prices for inferior and standard gold,” he said.

          “If the Thai government wants the industry to boom, it must make more gold available,” he stressed.

          Saliou also urged the government to fund technical schools where Thai teenagers can learn about stone-setting, casting and designing. No more than half a dozen vocational schools nationwide teach rudimentary cutting, recutting and polishing.

          “The government must provide them with the proper education,” Saliou said. “At a factory, the teaching cannot be done properly because a company is profit-minded. A company’s concern is not to open a school but to do business.”

          Other problems Saliou listed were bureaucracy, poor middle management and increased competition from stronger-based Thai companies.

          “The industry is booming because Thai companies have improved within a very short time,” he lauded. “And what is good for the industry is good for the people.”

          Otherwise, Thailand’s positive points include an abundance of raw materials, cheap labor and manual dexterity among workers, Saliou added.

          Sofragems export 18 karat jewelry with fine gemstones to Switzerland, France, West Germany and Japan.