China is the world’s top gold producer and will soon be the largest consumer too. Chinese consumers, encouraged by last year’s price slide, snapped up 1,176 tonnes of the yellow metal, a 41% increase on 2012.
Demand for gold jewellery rose 43% to 716 tonnes, but it is also increasingly seen as an investment. Gold bar sales jumped by 57% to 375 tonnes. Demand for gold in China and other emerging markets has helped prop up prices.