A seller displays a golden cow at a shop in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province on Tuesday. The China Gold Association said output of raw gold in the first three quarters of this year fell 4.51 percent from a year earlier. Photo: cnsphoto

China consumed 554.88 tons of gold in the first half of 2023, up 16.37 percent year-on-year, data from the China Gold Association (CGA) showed on Tuesday, as Chinese citizen's income continues to rise steadily. 

The "gold rush" is partly fueled by the investors' growing risk-aversion in buying equities and bonds, over concerns about volatile global financial environment, which is exacerbated by the US bank financial crisis and the US debt ceiling issue.

Among the gold consumption, the purchase of gold bars jumped 30.12 percent year-on-year to 146 tons in the first six months, while that of gold jewelry reached 368 tons, up 14.82 percent from the same period last year. Gold used for industrial and other purposes declined 7.65 percent to 40 tons, the data showed.

"With the normalization of the economy and the revival of the economy, China's gold consumption shows an overall momentum of rapid recovery," said a statement on the website of CGA. Consumption of gold, silver and jewelry led the gains of individual retail category in the first half this year, which continues to make contribution to fueling the economy, the statement noted.

Meanwhile, the production of gold in China rose steadily. In the first six months of the year, raw gold production in China grew 2.24 percent to reach 179 tons, while that of raw gold imports jumped 17.5 percent year-on-year to 65 tons. 

In 2022, China's gold consumption shrank 10.63 percent to 1,002 tons. 

The global price of the precious metal has rallied during the first six months of the year due to the weakness in the US dollar. At the end of June, the spot gold price was traded at around 1,912 per ounce in London, rising some 3.7 percent compared with the beginning of the year. 

And the gold price further climbed up to a near eight-week high reached in the previous reporting session last week, news portal the gulfnews.com said, as investors bet that the US Federal Reserve is likely to halt raising interest rates after inflation has largely edged down.

China's gold reserve rose by 103 tons to reach 2,113.48 at the end of June this year.  The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, has been increasing gold reserves for eight consecutive months since November 2022. 

Global Times