global gold demand slumps, page-8

lord elpus...

Headline grabbers like "Turkey's gold consumption slips by 35%" are what makes the news...but what are the world averages?

US consumption down by only 1%...China up by 2%...etc.

More than likely, the average gold consuption figures may only be down by 15% or so...which it appears would more than likely be cancelled out by the 15% drop in gold production.

Interestingly, the article talks of the importance of the impact from the jewellery sector, which raises an interesting point.

People tend to have a fixed price in mind when buying jewellery...as a result, the rise in the gold price simply means you get less gold for the same dollar value...so by extension, the fall in demand from jewellers is more than likely representative of the higher gold value only and not a reduction of dollar value entering the market.

I suggest the same dollar value...and perhaps even more...keeps pouring into the jewellery stores each month, keeping demand at an even pace...its just that we now get less bang for our buck!

Anyway...retail useage may commoditise gold to some extent...but as it stands, gold is a lot more complex than that.

Cheers!