Third quarter gold demand down 11 pct year-on-year – WGC
LONDON, November 15, 2012 – Global gold demand dropped 11 percent in the third quarter of 2012 from record levels seen in the same period last year.
Weakening Chinese demand due to slowing economic growth was a driver of the decline, but stronger Indian consumption stemmed a larger fall, the World Gold Council said in its latest quarterly demands trend report.
Chinese gold consumption fell 8 percent in the July to September period to 176.8 tonnes, the WGC’s report showed, with both jewellery and investment demand hurt by a slowing economic growth.
Data last month showed China’s economy slowed for a seventh straight quarter in the July to September period. Chinese bar and coin investment dropped 12 percent to 53 tonnes, while jewellery buying fell 5 percent to 123.8 tonnes.
China is second to India as the world’s biggest gold consumer. Indian demand rose in the last quarter by 9 percent to 223.1 tonnes, reversing the trend of the previous three quarters, with pent-up consumer demand lifting the market.
First-half buying was dented by jewellers’ strikes, a hike in import duty and a dearth of auspicious days for weddings.
India’s consumer gold demand remains down 24 percent in the first three-quarters of the year, however, and is unlikely to record a net increase in 2012 as a whole, the WGC said.
Global jewellery consumption dipped 2 percent to 448.8 tonnes, while coins and bar demand fell 30 percent. European investors, particularly in German-speaking markets, accounted for half of the 128.1-tonne decrease in bar and coin demand.
