China's demand for gold and jewellery ornaments blooming
3/8/2005 17:18
A latest Ministry of Commerce report predicts that China's gold and
jewellery consumption will maintain a fast growth trend this year. With the
country's rapid economic growth and improving living standards, gold and
jewellery ornaments have become another hot consumption item for the Chinese,
like houses and cars. A survey on market supply and demand development trends
in the latter half of 2005 sponsored by the ministry, and an analysis of 600
kinds of main consumer goods by concerned experts found that China has a large
number of consumers for gold and jewellery, especially as the generation born
between 1960s and 1980s enters the period of consumption. The survey also
indicated that the depreciation of the US dollar in recent years has stimulated
investment in gold and diamonds. In the first half of this year, the retail
sales volume of 1,000 of China's major gold, silver and jewellery companies
increased by 13.9 percent. China's diamond imports reached US$900 million in
the period, up 17.5 percent. Twenty-five percent of the respondents believed
that gold ornaments prices will rise in the later half of this year, 19 percent
said that the price of platinum ornaments will also rise. Also, 65 percent of
the informants believed that the demand and supply for gold and jewelry
ornaments will keep balance in the second half of this year. China's platinum
consumption exceeded half of the world's total output in 2004 and both China's
gold output and sales volume rank fourth in the world. In 2003 and 2004,
China's retail sales of gold and jewelry ornaments increased by 11.7 percent and
27.5 percent respectively.
Xinhua
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