Consumer demand to remain low - WGC
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Investment demand for gold is expected to compensate for falling consumer demand in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic impacted buyer habits, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the International Mining and Resources Conference, WGC chief marketing strategist John Read noted that consumer demand, which makes up nearly 40% of total gold demand, had slumped during the first nine months of the year, with jewellery demand falling by 41% to 904 t during this period.
“This represents a larger decline than the one seen around the Global Financial Crisis,” Read said.
While high gold prices contributed to the fall in consumer demand, the main factor was the global lockdown owing to the pandemic, which Read said affected economies.
In terms of supply, mine production was down 5% in the year-to-date, owing to production interruptions from the pandemic, while recycling supply also fell in the first half of 2020.
“Although we are expecting an improvement in consumer demand in the second half of the year, and there are already signs of this happening in India and China, 2020 will be a poor year in consumer demand, and 2021 will also be lower than normal due to higher prices and still weak economics,” said Read.
“Supply will continue to recover over the next few quarters as interruptions decrease, and scrap recycling increases.”
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation