Gold designer jewellery

NEW DELHI(BullionStreet): World's largest gold consumer India is beyond the reach of the second positioned Chinese as far as gold storing is concerned.

According to reports Indians are holding atleast 18,000 tons of gold while Chinese people accounts for 6000 tons only. In India, gold is acquired continuously over the years, as money is saved and available.

Thus the acquisition is done over generations. Except for the last few decades, gold was the only form of savings that was practical.

Gold purchase in India is entwined with religious and cultural beliefs. Indian customs demand buying gold for special occasions like weddings, births, birthdays, celebrate various festivals or offer gold to Indian deities.

Analysts said for Indians at least, gold will never lose its sheen and the mentality is so possessive for gold that it will be sold as a last resort only and before that most of the other assets will be liquidated.

They said China can't beat India in that department but could overtake them as largest consumer in the near future.

Meanwhile, World Gold Council said Chinese gold jewelry consumption may double in less than 10 years compared with last year's consumption of 452 tons thanks to an increasingly affluent population.

China's gold jewelry consumption may reach 550 tons this year, which is ahead of the curve of our original estimate of 519.6 tons. Analysts said based on this consumption, China's doubling may come earlier than 2020.

The WGC previously forecast China's gold consumption to double to 955.2 tons by 2020. World Gold Council also predicted China's gold consumption in 2012 to be just over 800 mt, up from 750 mt in 2011.

China has also taken drastic steps to improve and possible reform the overall gold sector by eliminating smaller-scale gold smelters.

China planned to shut down gold producers with ore processing capacities of less than 50 mt/day. However a detailed timetable for implementing this was not revealed.