SHANGHAI: Gold consumption within the nation during Chinese Lunar New Year boomed, indicating rosy development prospects, with promotions from retailers and comparatively low costs enhancing the attractiveness of the dear metallic for a lot of Chinese shoppers,in response to the World Gold Council.
During the Spring Festival break within the first week of February, gold jewelry consumption in Shanghai reached 1.1 billion yuan (US$171.8mil or RM718.66mil), up 12% year-on-year. As it’s the Year of the Tiger, tiger-themed gold merchandise and heritage gold jewelry had been fashionable, the Shanghai Gold Jewellery Association stated.
In the primary 15 days of the primary month of the Chinese lunar calendar, consumption of gold in China went up by 12% year-on-year, the council stated.
Due to sporadic outbreaks of Covid-19 variants in numerous areas within the nation, many Chinese travellers selected to cancel their journey plans and keep put during the Spring Festival vacation. Their freed-up journey budgets might have supplied an additional increase to gold jewelry purchases, the council stated.
“We remain relatively positive on the 2022 outlook for gold demand in China, despite the possibility of a slowdown in the country’s economic growth,” stated Ray Jia, senior analyst on China for the World Gold Council.
Compared with different markets, China’s gold jewelry market reveals the next worth transparency, and younger Chinese shoppers have proven an rising curiosity in gold jewelry, fuelled by their shifting tastes and mindset towards gold jewelry as an funding and a client product.
In addition, there was a larger push from business banks in bar and coin gross sales as their different retail gold enterprise stays restricted, a dynamic that would affect gold demand in China this 12 months, the council stated.
“Traditionally, there is a demand among consumers to buy gold products during the Spring Festival period. Besides, the popularity of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has boosted the sales of some related gold products and jewellery,” stated Li Yang, a gold trade analyst.
China’s gold imports in 2021 totalled 818 tonnes, a 36% improve year-on-year on the again of a robust restoration in native gold consumption. It was near the 2019 degree, when there was no Covid-19 pandemic, in response to knowledge from the General Administration of Customs.
After reaching an all-time excessive in December as traders took benefit of decrease gold costs, collective holdings in Chinese gold ETFs (exchange-traded funds) fell 9 tonnes to 66 tonnes, or US$4bil on the finish of January.
“Investors tend to cash their investments in before the Chinese Lunar New Year to avoid uncertainties in the global gold market during the Chinese holiday week,” Jia of the World Gold Council stated. — China Daily/ANN
