Indians have offloaded more household gold in the third quarter of 2013 to take advantage of the price rise of the yellow metal and to meet their family requirement. Data released by World Gold Council on Thursday shows that there has been a 44.5% increase in recycled gold to 61.3 tonne from 34 tonne in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Talking to ET, Somasundaram PR, managing director (India), WGC said: "In Q2 of 2013, only 9.5 tonne of recycled gold has entered the market. But in Q3 when the supply side was constrained due to government policies, 61.3 tonne of old gold were offloaded by Indians. They took advantage of the price rise in yellow metal that touched Rs 33,000 per 10 gm during the quarter".
The demand for gold in India for Q3 2013 was at 148.2 tonne down by 32% compared to Q3 demand for 2012 which stood at 219.1 tonne. Despite this drop in demand in Q3, WGC pegs the 2013 demand at 900 tonne. Total jewellery demand in India for Q3 2013 was down by 23% at 104.7 tonne compared to 136.1 tonne in Q2 of 2012. There has been a drastic drop in investment demand as people preferred other asset class for investment due to volatility in the yellow metal prices. The investment demand was down by 48% at 43.5 tonne.
WGC says that in the first nine months of 2013 the total demand for jewellery is up by 13% and investment demand is up 30%. Total demand according to the council is up by 19%. Actually the surge in demand took place during April-June quarter when prices of the yellow metal fell to Rs 25,500 per 10 gm level.
Somasundaram added that the fourth quarter is traditionally a busy season for gold, as it captures post-monsoon rural spending, major festivals and auspicious wedding days and it is expected this to be true this year.
The global gold demand trend has followed the India pattern. Overall demand for gold in Q3 2013 was 869 tonne, down 21% on the same period a year ago. However, demand remained strong across most countries and sectors. The exceptions were gold-backed ETFs, which had net outflows of 119 tonne this quarter, compared to 402 tonne in Q2 2013.
WGC said that taking the year as a whole so far, the jewellery, bar and coin sectors are showing year-to-date increases, while technology demand remains robust. ETF investment demand is the notable exception, having weakened this year. As of the end of Q3 2013, demand stood at 2,896t, 26% higher than the same year-to-date figure in 2012.
The global demand for jewellery was 487 tonne in Q3 2013, compared with 462 tonne in the same period last year, an increase of 5%. Demand was particularly strong in China, where the figure reached 164 tonne, a rise of 29% compared with the same period last year. Robust growth in the jewellery sector was also seen in the Middle East, Turkey and significantly across South East Asia. After eight years of decline, the US jewellery market had its third consecutive quarter of growth with a shift to higher carat items - signalling the re-emergence of aspiration and luxury as key drivers of gold jewellery in US. The global bar and coin demand also showed a year-on-year increase, reaching 304 tonne, a rise of 6% compared to the same period last year.
Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment