Thursday, 8th September 2005 (3348 views)

Consumer demand for gold jewellery has rocketed to over 2,600 tonnes, with a value of £20.6 billion, according to figures released by the World Gold Council (WGC).

The 12 months to June display a surge in the popularity of gold and the past nine months have seen double-figure gold consumption growth.

Poor demand for gold jewellery in the UK, a fall of 14 per cent for the year to June, has been more than compensated for in the strong Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern markets.

Economic growth in both India and China has contributed to the increased figures.

India retained its position as the world's largest gold jewellery consumer, purchasing a total of 517.5 tonnes in addition to the 100.2 tonnes it consumed as investment, whilst Chinese demand was up 12 per cent year on year. Turkey has also proved itself as a growing gold market.

This is the sixth consecutive quarter of growth for gold. Speaking to Moneyweb, Jill Leyland of the WGC discussed the reasons for gold's continued success.

She named the contributory factors as a strong global economy, "a resurgence in investor interest in gold over the past year or so" and some "very positive results" from the WGC's new jewellery marketing initiatives.

 

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