World gold demands fall 4% in 2014
Source: www.chinamining.org Citation: Shanghai Daily Date: February 13, 2015
A decline in jewelry consumption more than offset the growth in demand for gold investment and central bank buying and led to a fall in global gold consumption, the World Gold Council said yesterday.
Gold consumption worldwide fell 4 percent last year from 2013 to 3,924 tons, the WGC said in a report.
But the year ended strong as demand in the fourth quarter rose 6 percent year on year to 987 tons, helped by demand for jewelry and central bank buying.
The WGC expects China`s gold consumption to rise to between 900 and 1,000 tons this year, with jewelry contributing about 70 percent of the volume.
"2014 was a year of stabilization in the gold market, with annual gold demand down by just 4 percent after the record-breaking buying seen in 2013," said Marcus Grubb, managing director, investment strategy at the WGC.
"It was a standout year for Indian jewelry, despite government restrictions on gold imports. Meanwhile Chinese gold demand returned to levels last seen in 2011 and 2012."
Jewelry remained the biggest source of demand ¡ª 2,153 tons ¡ª for gold last year. But demand "unsurprisingly" fell 10 percent compared with the previous year due to the price-driven demand surge for jewelry in 2013, the WGC said.
India had its strongest year for jewelry demand since the WGC records began in 1995, up 8 percent last year to 662 tons, driven by weddings and festival buying despite government curbs on gold imports for most of the year.
Chinese jewelry demand dimmed 33 percent year on year, but it still represented the second-best year for jewelry demand in China since the WGC records began.
Investment demand rose 2 percent to 905 tons in 2014 from 885 tons in 2013.
Central bank demand climbed 17 percent from a year earlier to 477 tons as gold remained a valuable reserve to hold.
About CHINA MINING
Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.
CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2015 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin on November 20th-23rd, 2015. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 17th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2015, please visit: m.balanzskin.com.
