Indian and Chinese “strong hands” continue to boost gold demand – WGC -by Geoff Candy (Mineweb.com – August 15, 2013)

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According to the World Gold Council, the gold market continues to re-balance and demand is moving distinctively from West to East.

Gold demand in India and China is expected to account for close to 45 to 50% of the total gold market by year end, the World Gold Council says, as consumer demand for gold continues to ratchet higher.

Speaking to Mineweb on the launch of the group’s Gold Demand Trend report for the second quarter, MD for investments, Marcus Grubb, explained that based on the figures for the year so far, the council has moved its range for total demand to roughly the same level – 900 – 1000 tonnes each.

Both markets are up roughly 45 to 50% for the year to date and “they are remarkably close together; they are still within about 35 tonnes of each other, which is very similar to where they were in the first half of last year (about 30 tonnes apart) in spite of being 50% larger this year.”

Grubb points out that this forecast implies a new all time high total demand figure for China, comfortably higher than the previous record of 776 tonnes.

To date, much of the reason for this is the strong rise in consumer demand for jewellery , bars and coins in the two countries.

According to the figures for the second quarter, globally, jewellery demand was up 37% in Q2 2013 to 576 tonnes – its highest level since Q3 2008, while bar and coin investment globally grew 78%, breaching the 500 tonne mark in a quarter for the first time.

If you split out India and China, jewellery demand rose 54% and 51% respectively, while bar and coin demand grew by 157% and a 116%.

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