SMM10 March 29: recently, the World Gold Council released a report showing that gold demand fell 19% to 892 tons in the third quarter compared with the same period last year. Global gold investment demand grew strongly in the third quarter, offsetting some of the weak market demand to some extent, as COVID-19 is still dominant.
As consumers and investors continued to grapple with the effects of the global epidemic, gold demand fell to 892.3 tons in the third quarter, the lowest quarterly aggregate demand since the third quarter of 2009. Year-to-date demand is 2972.1 tonnes, 10 per cent lower than in the same period in 2019.
Although jewellery demand has improved from an all-time low in the second quarter, continued blockade restrictions, an economic slowdown and strong gold prices have placed a heavy burden on many jewellery buyers.
By contrast, demand for gold bars and currency reserves strengthened, rising 49 per cent year-on-year to 222.1 tonnes. Most of the growth comes from the official, where gold coins are the most common form of gold investment because of continued strong demand for safe havens in Western markets and Turkey. Gold ETF inflows remained strong in the third quarter, although growth was slightly slower than in the first half. Global investors have increased their holdings of gold ETF and similar products by 272.5 tonnes, bringing the daily flow so far this year to a record 1003.3 tonnes.
Demand for gold for industrial technology remained weak in the third quarter, down 6% from a year earlier to 76.7 tons. But the industry's quarterly results grew well as some key markets emerged from the blockade.
Although gold recovery rose 6 per cent, total gold supply fell 3 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier to 1223.6 tonnes, while mine production was still affected by COVID-19 restrictions in the first half of the year.
