(Kitco News) - The world's largest gold consumer China produced 174.687 tonnes of gold in H1. This equates to a 14.36% increase which is around 21.934 tonnes vs last year. Gold consumption in the nation did fall by 12.84% due to the COVID-19 pandemic and also the volatile gold prices according to the China Gold Association (CGA).
According to the CGA, the consumption of gold jewelry printed at 320.73 tonnes, down 7.98% from last year, while that of gold coins and bars dived by 25.59% to 112.44 tonnes in the first six months. In the same period, gold consumption for industrial and other uses stood at 43.65 tonnes, down 7.89% year on year.
Wednesday's data also showed that holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in China decreased by 18.26 tonnes in the first half of 2022. By the end of June, total holdings of gold ETFs in the Chinese market were about 57.02 tonnes. This is not a surprise as the data for Chinese ETF holdings have been on a downward trajectory for a while now.
It is not all doom and gloom as according to a more recent CCTV report A representative from the flagship store of China Gold Group in Beijing said the number of consumers asking about gold bars had nearly doubled and sale volumes were up 20%. In addition to this, data from World Gold Council (WGC) showed that gold withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange reached 140 tonnes in June, a 37 tonnes improvement from May and 7 tonnes higher Y/Y.
