Demand for gold jewelry is crashing in China & India. Gold rush & economic uncertainty = shortage in small bars & coins

[PinkDiamond]

I've got two gold-related articles for you from RT.com that I think you'll find interesting, if not helpful. Also, I read that silver jewelry saw its 11th straight year of growth in 2019, so silver is the current metal to buy since gold is being sold for so much above spot price, which means we'll be seeing even more designers and companies offering their pieces set in silver rather than gold than we already are. Looks like I won't be buying jewelry anytime soon since I don't particularly like silver; not that I have money to spend, but if I did I wouldn't be pay that much above the spot price of gold anyway. The article below the second one on the page is called, "World’s super-rich are hoarding physical gold in secret bunkers" that might interest you, although the headline really says it all.

Demand for gold jewelry is crashing in China & India, consultant finds
13 Apr, 2020 09:43 / Updated 5 days ago


© Reuters / Shailesh Andrade

" Sharp contractions in gold imports by major consumers suggest gold jewelry demand is being battered, says investment research group Capital Economics, though it projects that safe-haven buying should ensure a near-term price rise.

According to the group’s commodities economist Alexander Kozul-Wright, gold imports plunged 50 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2020. Withdrawals from Shanghai’s gold exchange tanked 56 percent during the same period. Physical sales in critical global markets, China and India, have fallen off a cliff so far this year.

Kozul-Wright says that he doesn’t expect to see a significant rebound in gold jewelry demand, as gold prices remain high against the Chinese yuan and consumers remain subdued as the country starts to recover from coronavirus pandemic.

”That said, China’s gold imports may stage a comeback in the second half of the year, assuming that economic growth continues to gather pace and households start spending again,” he added.

Talking about India’s gold market, he quoted trade data that showed the country’s imports of the yellow metal sinking by a month-to-month 73 percent in March."

https://www.rt.com/business/485638-chin ... mand-fall/


Gold rush amid coronavirus & economic uncertainty leads to shortage in small bars & coins


© Getty Images / brightstars

" As Covid-19 disrupts the global economy, people are snapping up small gold bars and coins, confirming once again the yellow metal’s safe haven reputation during times of uncertainty.

The price of gold hit a seven-year high of more than $1,700 per troy ounce on March 9, as a result of the deepening economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

“People want to buy, not to sell, gold,” Mark O’Byrne, the founder of GoldCore, a dealer based in Dublin, told Bloomberg. “We have a buyers’ waiting list and we emailed our clients seeing who wished to sell their gold. At this time there are roughly only one or two sellers for every 99 buyers.”

According to Markus Krall, chief executive of German precious-metal retailer Degussa, premiums in the retail market “have exploded.” ... "
https://www.rt.com/business/484751-shor ... gold-bars/