Advanced Search
Business | Metro | Nation | World | Sports | Features | Specials | Delta Stories
 
 
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