WGC Reports 6% Dip in Global Gold Jewellery Demand

On the contrary, the U.S. jewellery demand hit a 10-year high of 131.1t in 2019.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The global gold jewellery demand slumped 6% in 2019, says the latest Golf Demand Trends Report published by the World Gold Council (WGC). The drop in demand is primarily attributed to the steel rise in gold prices during the second half of the year.

The global demand totaled 2,107t in 2019, as compared with 2,240.2t in 2018. The weakness in China and India- the two key markets played a major role in the drop in global volumes. The gold jewellery demand in India and China recorded 9% and 7% decline respectively during the year. The Q4 demand recorded 10% year-on-year decline to 584.5t. This is the lowest quarterly demand since 2011.

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WGC cites several reasons for the sharp fall in demand in India. These include higher gold prices, domestic slowdown and muted rural demand. The downfall was arrested to some extent by wedding season demand and retailer promotions.

Meantime, China’s jewellery demand was down by 10% year-on-year in Q4 ’19 at 159.7t. This was mainly on account of decelerated growth in key economic indicators and slower GDP growth. The traditional 24k jewellery continued to lose market share.

The Middle Eastern jewellery demand fell 2%, whereas the Turkish jewellery demand remained more or less resilient. On the contrary, the U.S. jewellery demand hit a 10-year high of 131.1t in 2019.

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