Tamer Elgamil ·
Egyptian jewellery demand fell 19% in early 2026 while bars and coins rose 22%. The making charge you never get back at resale explains it better than July's 10% rise.
The average making charge on a gram of 21-karat jewellery in Egypt is about 64.41 pounds before tax. You pay it when you buy the piece, and when you sell that piece back you will almost certainly not get it returned. That one asymmetry explains more about where Egyptian gold money went in 2026 than any headline about the metal price.
World Gold Council figures for the first quarter of 2026 show demand for gold jewellery in Egypt at 5.2 tonnes, down 19% on the same quarter a year earlier. Demand for bars and coins over the same three months came to 5.7 tonnes, up 22%. By weight, Egyptians put more gold into bars and coins than into jewellery.
The regulated funds tell a similar story from a different direction. Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority counted about 329,000 investors in licensed gold and silver funds at the end of June 2026, holding net assets of 9.35 billion pounds. At the end of March the investor count had been 289,000, so the number of people rose about 14% in a single quarter.
The detail worth noticing is that net assets barely moved over that quarter, from roughly 9.28 billion pounds to 9.35 billion. Many more people arrived, but they did not bring much more money with them. This is small savers in small amounts, not institutions. The rest of the breakdown fits that: individuals hold 71% of the assets, and people aged 20 to 40 make up more than 70% of the investors. Silver funds appeared for the first time in the same quarter, two of them, with 146.1 million pounds and about 22,300 clients within months of launch.
From 1 July 2026 the average making charges used in Egypt rose by about 10%, an arrangement that runs to the end of June 2027. The average on a gram of 21-karat went to about 64.41 pounds and on 18-karat to about 96.64 pounds, both before 14% value-added tax.
Two things about that figure are widely misread.
First, it is not a one-off decision. It is a step in a protocol that has run since 2021, agreed between the Tax Authority and the chambers representing gold and silver traders and manufacturers. That protocol re-values these averages at the start of each financial year and lifts them by 10%.
Second, these are averages used to assess tax. They are not a price list every shop must charge you. A tax adviser quoted in the Egyptian press put the direct effect on a buyer at somewhere between 80 piastres and 1.40 pounds per gram. So if your jewellery bill felt heavier this year, this increase is very unlikely to be the reason.
Not because of this year's step, but because of how the charge behaves across a full round trip.
A making charge is not a tax and it is not part of the metal price. It pays for the design, the workshop labour, and the margins of the people who made and sold the piece. It does not track the international ounce at all. That is why an 18-karat gram can carry a higher average charge than a 21-karat gram, even though it holds less gold. The charge follows the work, not the metal.
The part that shapes behaviour is what happens on the way out. When a dealer buys a used piece back, they are buying the gold in it. The design work you paid for has no resale value to them. A bar carries a much smaller premium over the metal going in, and for the same reason there is much less of it to lose coming out. That difference, repeated across a whole market, is what moves 5.7 tonnes into bars while 5.2 tonnes of jewellery demand shrinks.
The Gold and Precious Metals Division of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, headed by Ihab Wassef, reached the same conclusion. It is preparing an initiative to win the business back: seasonal offers, designs across a wider spread of price points, and marketing aimed at young buyers and engaged couples.
Its account of the cause is blunt. Since 2023, buyers have moved toward bars and coins because they are cheaper to get into and easier to sell. Through a period of record prices and general economic uncertainty, jewellery buying has narrowed mostly to weddings and occasions. The division's wider strategy runs to 2029. It concentrates on design, manufacturing efficiency, support for small workshops and training, on the argument that Egyptian jewellery has to compete on quality rather than ride the gold price.
On any given day the gold inside a piece is priced the same across the market. What differs between one shop and another, and what sits on top of the metal, is the making charge.
So ask for it as a separate figure per gram before you agree to anything, and ask what the 14% is being applied to. A written breakdown is also what lets you check the same piece against another shop. None of this is a suggestion to choose bars over jewellery or the reverse; the two are bought for different reasons, and a bracelet is not only an investment.
The gold price by karat page shows the metal price your bill is built on, and the gold bars page explains how a bar's premium compares with a making charge. The sell-back price page shows what a dealer is paying for pieces today, and the gain and loss calculator helps separate what you paid for metal from what you paid for work.
The data points that way. World Gold Council figures for the first quarter of 2026 put Egyptian jewellery demand at 5.2 tonnes, down 19 percent on the same quarter a year earlier, while bar and coin demand reached 5.7 tonnes, up 22 percent.
The average values used to assess tax did, from 1 July 2026 until the end of June 2027, taking the 21-karat average to about 64.41 pounds a gram and 18-karat to about 96.64 pounds, both before 14 percent VAT. But this is a routine annual step in a protocol running since 2021, and a tax adviser quoted in the Egyptian press put the direct effect on a buyer at roughly 80 piastres to 1.40 pounds per gram.
Because the charge pays for the work, not for the metal. It covers design, workshop labour and the margins of whoever made and sold the piece, and it does not follow the international ounce. A lighter or more intricate piece can carry a higher charge per gram even though it contains less gold.
Ask for the making charge as a separate figure per gram, and ask what the 14 percent is being applied to, so the metal, the work and the tax are visible as three numbers rather than one total. A written breakdown is also what lets you compare the same piece at another shop. This is about reading the bill, not about choosing bars over jewellery.