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From Xinhua News Agency
via China Daily, Beijing
Monday, January 30, 2012
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2012-01/30/content_14504507.htm
BEIJING -- A gold rush swept through China during
the week-long Lunar New Year holiday this year, with demand for precious
metals and jewelry surging since the Year of the Dragon began.
Sales of gold, silver, and jewelry rose 57.6 percent
during the week-long holiday at Caibai, one of
Beijing's best-known gold retailers, according to data released by the
Ministry of Commerce on Saturday.
Other jewelry stores across the country also saw
sales boom during the period, with customers favoring New Year-themed gold
bars, gold ingots, and other types of Dragon-themed jewelries.
"Long treasured by Chinese, gold is no longer
owned only by a privileged few, but has become a new investment channel open
to all," said Guan Qiang, assistant manager at
Caibai.
The
spring festival gives people a chance to preserve and present gold as gifts,
offering hopes that it will increase in value and not be impacted by
inflation, Guan said.
During
the week-long holiday, which lasted from January 22 to 28, the sales volume
in Caibai and Guohua,
another of Beijing's top gold retailers, reached about 600 million yuan ($95.28 million).
The
figure showed a 49.7-percent increase over that of last year's spring
festival, said a report released by the Beijing Municipal Commission of
Commerce.
Caibai began selling gold bars as investment
items during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but the trend of buying gold or
silver bars during the Spring Festival has really taken off in the past two
years, Guan said.
For
Guan and his colleagues, the spring festival rush was an exciting but
exhausting experience, as customers flooded the store and surprised clerks
with their purchasing enthusiasm.
"With
customers crowding and rushing in, we did not even have time to eat and
drink," said a sales clerk at the gold bar counter surnamed Li.
She
said each shop assistant had received hundreds of customers per day and wrote
several times more orders than on ordinary days.
"You
can hardly even see the gold bars, necklaces, and pendants in the display
case. People seem crazy about gold, snatching it up more like a 'cheap
cabbage' than such a precious metal," said Beijing resident Miao Miao. "You have to quickly decide whether to make a
purchase or it will be taken away by others."
Miao
was shopping for a pair of gold bracelets to give to her granddaughter as a
gift for the New Year.
"When
my daughter was born in 1984, we had no means or savings to buy her one as a
keepsake. We can finally realize this dream by sending it to her
daughter," Miao said.
However,
Chinese do not value gold only in only sentimental terms. The precious metal
is also expected to maintain or increase its value, as evidenced by the
surging investment demand seen around the country, insiders have said.
"To
most Chinese, gold is more convenient than cash in other investment
instruments. Despite common investment risks, the price of gold is clear and
easy to judge," said Guan.
Compared
to unpredictable investments, such as those in the stock market or housing
sector, gold is cherished more by Chinese for its increasing value as an
asset as well as the unlikelihood that it will be affected by inflation, Guan
said.
China
is expected to overtake India as the world's top gold consumer in the next
few years. Strong demand for investments in gold and jewelry will have driven
China's total gold demand to 750 metric tons in 2011, according to the World
Gold Council.
Despite the record-high price of gold,
the demand for investments in gold and jewelry has continued to soar, with
the market expected to reach about 955.2 metric tons by 2020, thanks to a
growing middle class and a more affluent society, said Binghai,
director of the Shanghai Gold & Jewelry Trade Association.
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