Wait a minute, the price of gold has changed again. "This sentence has become a high-frequency phrase among the staff responding to customer inquiries at the gold store in Shenzhen Shuibei. The quote that was just retrieved from the real-time market system one second may lose its reference value in the next second due to market fluctuations. The calculation at your fingertips has not yet been completed, and the new price has already jumped into view. Shenzhen Shuibei, known as the "number one gold street in China", has become a "barometer" for gold trading nationwide due to its flexible pricing system and large circulation scale. However, in the past month, this year-round gold trading hub seems to have encountered its own 'off-season'. Starting from November 1st, the Announcement on Tax Policies Related to Gold issued by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation has been officially implemented, reducing the tax input deduction ratio for non investment gold from 13% to 6%, directly pushing up the source procurement cost of gold jewelry, and gold sales have subsequently cooled down. Recently, when the reporter walked into the Shenzhen Shuibei Gold Market, he saw a continuous stream of customers inquiring about prices, but there were very few customers who had truly finalized transactions, especially for large purchases; In front of several small and medium-sized merchants in the corner of the market, there were quietly signs of "transfer" hanging. However, in the overall cold market atmosphere, some merchants have also leveraged online live streaming to expand their sales channels, attracting online customers through real-time explanations of gold price trends and displays of gold jewelry craftsmanship. Some merchants have also launched targeted niche design styles, holiday limited edition products, and other special products, attempting to use differentiated product strategies to hedge the dual pressure of rising costs and decreasing customer traffic. It is not difficult to see that this adjustment of tax policy is leaving a mark on every transaction link of Shenzhen Shuibei in an intuitive way. Is the golden water shell no longer "fragrant"? In the afternoon, the 'Shuibei No.1' was less lively than the usual crowded activities. During this time of year in previous years, the counters were crowded with individual customers and wholesalers inquiring and selecting goods. However, now, employees from multiple stores gather in twos and threes to pass the time. During this period, there have been very few people asking for prices, let alone making deals. ”Mr. Zhang, who has been operating a gold jewelry store in Shenzhen Shuibei for many years, told reporters helplessly that "the reform of the 'gold tax', coupled with the continuously rising gold price, has made business much quieter." This is the most intuitive portrayal of the Shenzhen Shuibei market after the implementation of the 'gold tax'. The cost increase brought about by the new policy is directly reflected in the terminal selling price. Taking the day of the reporter's visit (November 27th) as an example, the gold price of Shenzhen Shuibei Jewelry was 1095 yuan/gram, while the domestic gold price was only about 942 yuan/gram on that day. It is worth noting that the price jump has directly weakened the price advantage of Shenzhen Shuibei's "wholesale price for buying gold" - previously, the price difference between Shenzhen Shuibei and brand gold stores could reach several hundred yuan. Now, if consumers request an invoice, the price difference between Shuibei jewelry gold and discounted brand gold stores is less than 200 yuan, and even some styles have no obvious advantage. The volatility of the recycling market has further exacerbated the market's sluggishness. Before the implementation of the "gold tax", the price difference between the zero selling price and the recycling price of Shenzhen Shuibei jewelry gold was only about 30 yuan. Now, this gap has widened to over 160 yuan. I dare not easily recycle now. If the recycling price is too high, it will result in losses, and if it is too low, consumers will not accept it. Moreover, if the recycled gold is resold, taxes will be added. "A recycling store owner admitted that several top recycling companies upstream have suspended their business, and small and medium-sized recycling businesses are also in a dilemma of" neither collecting nor not collecting ". During an interview with reporters, Song Xiangqing, Vice President of the China Society of Business Economics, stated that the current phenomenon of widening price differentials and shrinking transactions in the gold recycling market is a typical adaptive response in the early stages of major tax reform, which is in line with the market operation rules during the policy adjustment stage. The temporary failure of the price mechanism and the decrease in market trading activity in the short term are the costs that the gold recycling industry must pay in the process of transitioning from the old model to the new model; But this stage of adjustment is also an important opportunity for the industry to move towards standardized and healthy development. From a temporal perspective, Yu Jiayi, Chief Analyst of the Metal Industry at Orient Securities, told reporters that the essence of this round of tax reform is to crack down on over-the-counter speculative trading and regulate market quotations. Therefore, for the already chaotic "wholesale market" in the industry, it is imperative to standardize the supply channels and unify the pricing mechanism. Considering the short-term pressure on the jewelry end and the trend of gold prices in the medium and long term, the impact cycle of tax reform may be relatively small. It is expected that within one to two months, the market will still focus on the gold price trend, and the industry's operating status will gradually stabilize. At the same time, Song Xiangqing stated that at this stage, industry associations should actively lead leading enterprises to formulate unified gold recycling quotation rules, clarify pricing logic and accounting standards; In addition, the tax department provides precise compliance operation guidance for market entities, ultimately forming a three-dimensional governance system of "enterprise self-discipline+government supervision+consumption guidance", helping the industry smoothly pass the policy transition period. In fact, while passively accepting cost increases and market cooling, every link in the gold industry chain is actively exploring ways to break through the situation - upstream material suppliers are temporarily suspending shipments and waiting for pricing, midstream producers are switching settlement models to reduce costs, and downstream retailers are increasing online channels and differentiated products. The entire industry is actively seeking ways to survive during the "adaptation period" of tax reform. In the upstream, after the implementation of the new policy, Shenzhen Shuibei's upstream gold material merchants chose to stop and wait - "There have been basically no shipments this month, and everyone is waiting." A material merchant with more than ten years of experience told reporters that the core dilemma of the material merchant is pricing: adding a 7% tax, downstream merchants' purchasing willingness drops sharply; No additional taxes, all costs will be borne by oneself, and there is concern that future policy adjustments may result in losses. In the middle reaches, unlike the passive wait-and-see attitude of material suppliers, processing manufacturers quickly found a response strategy - collectively leaning towards the "material settlement" model. In fact, gold trading has long existed in two modes: "material settlement" and "price settlement": "price settlement" is based on the gold price at the time of trading, with a 7% increase in costs after tax reform; And 'material settlement' only charges processing fees and settles with gold raw materials, completely unaffected by tax policies. When the reporter visited with the identity of holding the No.1 sheet material (a raw material with a purity of Au99.99% and standardized form), it immediately attracted the attention of multiple merchants, and many merchants took the initiative to negotiate cooperation intentions. In the downstream, the response of the retail end shows a differentiated trend - top brand gold stores rely on their cost shifting ability to follow up with price adjustments in the first place, and transfer tax cost pressure to consumers through price transmission; The response of small and medium-sized merchants is more diverse. Some merchants suspend their retail business and only engage in wholesale for regular customers. Some merchants focus on online live streaming to expand their sales channels, or launch special styles of gold products to attract sales. There are also a few merchants who try the "online and offline dual price" model to clear inventory. The "survival strategy" of each link in the gold industry chain is essentially an adaptive exploration of the industry under the impact of tax reform. With the gradual digestion of tax rules by the market and the compliant restructuring of upstream and downstream trading models, the gold industry chain will eventually break free from the short-term anxiety of cost competition and shift towards a more sustainable development path, which is also the core essence of promoting industry standardization and advancement in this tax reform. Zhang Yiqun, director and researcher of Jilin Provincial Institute of Fiscal Science, stated in an interview with Securities Daily that the core goal of this "gold tax" policy adjustment is to strengthen the overall control ability of gold production and supply from the source, enhance the country's control and regulation level of gold resources, and consolidate the strategic position of gold as a financial reserve; On the other hand, by optimizing tax systems and rates, downstream consumers are forced to enhance their demand innovation capabilities for gold jewelry, meet the market needs of different groups with differentiated and diversified products and services, and ultimately achieve an overall increase in the value of gold. This also means that tax adjustments not only release policy benefits for gold production enterprises, but also promote the gold industry from pure price competition to value enhancement at the level of the entire industry chain, helping the industry achieve high-quality development. The acceleration of the industry towards standardization, whether it is the cold or the change of the water shell, is not only a short-term "pain" and impact brought about by the "gold tax" reform, but also an inevitable process for the gold industry to bid farewell to extensive scale growth and move towards standardized and high-quality development. In Zhang Yiqun's view, the adjustment of the "gold tax" policy this time is twofold: firstly, to control the source and enhance the country's ability to control gold production and prices; secondly, to control quality, enhance the supply of gold quality, and drive out vicious competition caused by low prices; thirdly, to promote innovation, support the increase of gold's diversified consumption capacity, stimulate the consumption and financial attributes of gold, and effectively regulate the balance between gold supply and consumption. The price adjustment through tax rates helps to form a positive interactive pattern of unified control by upstream production countries, encouragement of technological innovation in midstream processing, and diversified development of downstream consumption, which plays an important guiding role in regulating China's gold consumption market. At the same time, the World Gold Council pointed out that the reform of the "gold tax" has different impacts on gold investment demand and jewelry consumption: on the investment side, buying gold bars and coins from Shanghai Gold Exchange members, trading gold ETFs, and accumulation plans are not affected, and the market dominance of exchange members may be further strengthened. Gold bar sales may accelerate, and some jewelry consumers may turn to buying gold bars for processing to avoid taxes; On the consumer side, the price of gold jewelry has risen due to tax burden transfer, and although demand may be under pressure, the price of gold is at a historical high, and the elasticity of demand has weakened, with limited negative impact. The retail industry of gold jewelry may accelerate integration, and merchants will turn to innovative design and craftsmanship competition. It is worth noting that industry standardization is not achieved overnight, and the supporting mechanisms during the policy transition period still need to be accelerated and improved. In Song Xiangqing's view, regulatory authorities need to improve supporting regulations, optimize execution pace, and provide transitional support for small and medium-sized enterprises. Industry associations should take the lead in formulating standards, building compliance platforms, and promoting industry collaboration. Enterprise entities need to accelerate their transformation, leading enterprises should enhance their design innovation and brand premium capabilities, and small and medium-sized enterprises should deeply cultivate segmented markets and services. As the "number one gold street in China", the changes in temperature of Shenzhen Shuibei are a microcosm of the transformation of the entire gold industry. The implementation of the "gold tax" requires the market to face the pain of adapting to costs, prices, and trading models in the short term; But in the long run, this adjustment is driving the gold industry from being "scale driven" to being "value driven", forming a benign pattern of unified upstream control, midstream technological innovation, and diversified downstream consumption. When the fluctuations of the transition period fade away, the dividends of standardization will eventually emerge, and the Chinese gold market will also be on a track of high-quality development, releasing more lasting vitality. (New Society)