Gold accessories at a flagship store of China National Gold Group in Beijing Photo: VCG

Chinese jewelry stores are seeing their sales boom as the Chinese Spring Festival draws near. Some also expect a strong year as mass Covid19 vaccination programs are under way while the economy recovers rapidly.

Several jewelry stores in Beijing told the Global Times on Monday that they've already seen an increase in sales with more than a week to go before the Spring Festival, the most important holiday for Chinese people.

"Our sales volume is up significantly - far better than last year," an employee at a store in the China World Mall, a major mall in the capital, told the Global Times on Monday.

In 2020, the actual consumption of gold nationwide was 820.98 tons, down 18.13 percent year-on-year, data from the China Gold Association showed. Consumption of gold jewelry last year was 490.58 tons, a year-on-year decline of 27.45 percent, said the association.

The staffer noted that as the Valentine's Day overlaps with the Chinese New Year holiday, so more people will buy presents for their beloved ones, which might see the prices go up too.

"We have got an order from our headquarters to raise the prices of all products by about 5 percent in our shop," the person said. The price hikes will take effect during the upcoming holiday. 

With prices at record levels and the economy hit by the coronavirus, consumer demand for gold was down sharply in 2020, and demand for jewelry fell by an estimated 40 percent, Heraeus, the technology group based in Hanau, Germany, said in a statement it sent to the Global Times.

Heraeus predicted that in the second half of this year, jewelry purchases would further revive with mass vaccination. 

"China and India are the two largest jewelry markets in the world. Since China is less affected by the epidemic than India, China's jewelry purchases may be the first to pick up," said Linda Hu, general manager of Heraeus Precious Metals China.