China stamps new golden records
Shanghai Daily, February 11, 2014 Adjust font size:
China's gold consumption and production both set new records last year as lower prices spurred sales of jewelry and bars in the world's biggest gold market.
Demand jumped 41.4 percent annually to 1,176 tons in 2013, the China Gold Association said yesterday.
Consumption for gold jewelry rose 43 percent from a year earlier to 716 tons in China last year, while gold bars jumped 57 percent to 376 tons. Demand for gold coins, gold for industrial use and other sectors declined, the association said.
China's total yearly consumption has outshone India's 1,000 tons, and made it the world's biggest gold market in 2013 for the first time, according to data from the association and the UK-based World Gold Council.
The council said in November that India's combined demand for bullion in the first three quarters of last year totaled 715 tons while China's came to 821 tons.
India's demand in the fourth quarter may reach around 250-300 tons, India's Economic Times reported earlier.
The People's Bank of China ranked sixth among official gold buyers with a total holding of 1,054 tons, about 1 percent of its multi-trillion foreign exchange reserves, according to the council's latest report.
The PBOC has not reported any increase in official holdings since 2009, but Jeffrey Nichols, managing director of American Precious Metals Advisors, said previously that the central bank had been "surreptitiously" adding to its official gold reserves over the past few years.
The central bank bought 654 tons from 2009 to 2011, another 388 tons in 2012, and more than 622 tons last year, mostly from domestic mine production and secondary supplies, Nichols said in a commentary on NicholsOnGold.com in January.
He also said China may soon announce an increase in official reserves from the current 1,054 tons to 2,710 tons.
On the supply side, China has been the top bullion producer for seven straight years.
Gold production increased 6.2 percent from a year earlier to 428 tons in 2013, the national association said.
