The World Gold Council has released numbers for the first quarter of the year, showing that gold demand was down 7% to 973.5t – the lowest since 2008. The main cause, according to the WGC, “was a fall in investment demand for gold bars and gold-backed ETFs, partly due to range-bound gold prices”.
During the quarter, jewelry demand was steady at 487.7t, as weaker demand in India was offset by growth in China and the US. The total supply of gold increased by 3% to 1,063.5t. Mine production “was fractionally higher at 770t”.
Demand for gold in the technology sector continued to improve, with a 4% year-on-year increase to 82.1t. According to WGC, the wireless sector” was a key area of growth as facial recognition is increasingly deployed in smartphones, gaming consoles and security systems”.
