Monday, February 21, 2011

Asia is driving the demand for gold

In 2011 China's investment in gold could rise by 40-50 per cent


The gold market is increasingly being dominated by China. Beijing, which in 2007 surpassed South Africa as the world leader in gold mining production in the last ten years has almost tripled the demand for gold to around 600 tonnes in 2010 a record year also globally, with a total demand that peaked decades of 3812.2 tons (+9%), driven by the jewelry, in recovery of 17% to 2,059.6 tons.
The statistics of the World Gold Council (WGC), published recently in Gold Demand Trends report, show that China's demand has become very explosive especially in investment, in other countries after the boom of 2009 there was a setback (the overall figure shows a decrease of 2% to 1,333.1 tons, a decrease by as much as 45% for ETFs), while the People's Republic of fear of inflation combined with the lack of alternative investment has produced a real own gold rush. The Chinese have bought 179.9 tons. bars, ingots and coins, 70% more than in 2009, surpassing the United States and Germany. In 2011 China's investment in gold could rise another 40-50 per cent.

China, nevertheless, is still far from being able to oust India from the podium of the first consumer of the yellow metal. The impressive recovery in demand in New Delhi makes this objective even harder for China : +66% in 2010 to 963.1 tons, almost everything related to jewelry.

The gold in 2010 reached a record $ 1,432.50 per ounce in December. After starting the year down in recent days - especially supported by the unrest in the Middle East - is above $ 1,380 / oz. "It seems that consumers, especially the larger ones, namely India and China, have become accustomed to higher prices . The high prices seem to even have provided an extra motivation to buy gold, described as an investment asset quality. "

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