Unprecedented gold prices and a surge in retail sales may push revenue at Thailand’s largest gold trading house to a record 5 trillion baht ($156 billion) this year, according to Hua Seng Heng chief executive officer Tanarat Pasawongse.
That amount would be bigger than even the government’s fiscal 2026 spending plan of about 3.8 trillion baht, testimony to the sheer number of residents in the Southeast Asian nation embracing the precious metal as a store of wealth amid low interest rates and a lackluster stock market.
Heightened geopolitical risks and uncertainty over where Thailand’s economy may be headed in light of US tariffs is also seeing waves of Thais dip into the commodity, said 50-year-old Tanarat, the third generation of a family that started the business in 1950 in the heart of Bangkok’s Chinatown.
“It’s been ingrained since childhood for Thai people to buy gold when they save enough money,” Tanarat said. “Over the past decade, gold returned about 10% a year. Last year, the return shot up to 70%, and people rushed in. It was pure fear of missing out.”
The surge underscores how gold, long a traditional Thai savings tool, is becoming central to household wealth in the face of growing economic uncertainty. With Thai stocks delivering negative returns and interest rates near record lows, the precious metal has become one of the few bright spots for retail investors.
The boom has however drawn scrutiny from regulators, who’ve tightened oversight in recent months amid concerns waves of gold trading may mask illicit flows and affect baht volatility. New rules that the government has said will come out shortly aim to improve transparency but will increase compliance costs for operators.
“Tighter reporting rules should help enhance transparency and reduce unexplained flows in Thailand’s balance of payments,” Krystal Tan, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said. “This would give policymakers better visibility over drivers of capital movements. However, enforcement could remain challenging because decentralized and cross-border transactions often fall outside domestic jurisdiction.”
The most recent gold rush in October, when global bullion prices surged past $4,000 an ounce, triggered one-way buying in Thailand. “Some of our shops stayed open until almost midnight and our online subscribers doubled,” Tanarat said. “October was probably the best month in our 75-year history.”
Despite raking in revenue of 2.66 trillion baht last year, Hua Seng Heng operates on relatively thin margins. That’s because most of the revenue reflects the metal’s high value, while dealers themselves make only a small profit on the narrow buy-sell spread. Hua Seng Heng’s net income in 2024 was just 548 million baht.
Almost 70% of gold purchases in Thailand now occur through online platforms, according to MTS Gold Group.
Thai gold demand, excluding central bank purchase, is set to climb 10% this year to 53.7 tons, according to the Thai Futures Exchange. Thailand is the only country in the world to have posted four straight years of growth through the Covid pandemic, YLG Bullion International Co. said, citing World Gold Council data.
Faced with higher expenses and impending tougher oversight, Hua Seng Heng plans to expand more aggressively overseas into markets with clearer regulations, without specifying which countries he was considering.
“It’s not bad to be regulated, but the rules shouldn’t be too broad,” Tanarat said. “Operators are facing difficult times with higher costs. We need more people just to comply.”
(By Suttinee Yuvejwattana)