The World Gold Council has released its latest quarterly review for gold. Assessing the second quarter of 2011 it said gold’s strong start to the year was reinforced during the period with gold demand measuring 919.8 tonnes, worth a near-record US$44.5bn, with broad-based support across all sectors and geographies. Standout markets were India and China, as these two markets accounted for 52% of total bar and coin investment and 55% of global jewellery demand. Looking forward to the second half of 2011, the report said gold demand will remain strong owing to a number of key factors: • Despite a higher gold price, Indian and Chinese demand grew 38% and 25% respectively during Q2 2011 compared to the same period of 2010. This growth is likely to continue, due to increasing levels of economic prosperity, high levels of inflation and forthcoming key gold purchasing festivals. • The impact of the European sovereign debt crisis, the downgrading of US debt, inflationary pressures and the still-fragile outlook for economic growth in the West are all likely to drive high levels of investment demand for the foreseeable future. • Central banks are likely to remain net purchasers of gold. Purchases of 69.4 tonnes during Q2 2011 demonstrated that central banks are continuing to turn to gold to diversify their reserves.
http://www.gold.org/investment/research/regul..._demand_trends/
Stephen Ward
The Perth Mint Blog
