Vietnam to auction unused coin currency as scrap

By Minh Son May 14, 2019 | 01:45 am PT

Vietnam stopped the production of coins in 2011. Photo by Shutterstock/Rongdat1979

Vietnam will auction over 600 tons of coins, whose minting has been stopped for years now because of their lack of popularity.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said it would auction the coins after turning them into metal scrap with a reserve price of VND48 billion ($2 million).

Any organization interested in bidding for the auctioneering contract should have at least five auctioneers each with at least five years of experience.

This company also needs to have auctioned at least VND45 billion ($19.3 million) worth of assets last year.

Vietnam began minting coins in 2003 to facilitate payment on buses and vending machines.

But they were met with public apathy because they were hard to use due to their small size and vending machines are rarely seen in the country.

The SBV stopped the production in 2011.