Chinese rush to purchase gold as long holiday season gets under way

Chinese department stores and gold traders have been collectively making small cuts in the price at which they are selling gold which reportedly has led to a huge boost in gold sales over the holiday period, which continues for another month.

LONDON - 

According to a report in the China Daily, Chinese citizens have been rushing to buy gold after major department stores cut the price of gold jewellery by around 3% in year end promotions for the Chinese holiday season, which runs from Christmas to the Chinese New Year which falls this year on February 10^th.  Gold jewellery sales increased by around 30% or more over the weekend.

Some of the major department stores have been cutting prices to as little as 269 yuan per gram (around US$1224 an ounce) prompting a big rise in purchases.  The report says that China's biggest  gold store has sold 30% more gold this year than last over the weekend after marking down prices to this level, which is a rise of 28% compared with prices a year ago.

Again, according to the China Daily, the gold jewellery and gold bars are being purchased in part because of worries about inflation ahead, as well as for traditional reasons as the new year of the Tiger approaches.  The mark-up in price on Chinese gold jewellery is very low, as in most other Eastern nations.  One trader, China National Gold, is reported to have doubled its sales over the weekend.

The boost in Chinese citizens' gold purchases over the final week of this year is likely to confirm the country's position in 2009 as the world's largest consumer of gold, as well as being now the largest producer.  India had held the top gold purchaser position for many years, but the high gold price has limited buying to a greater extent than in booming China.

Obviously the reports which hit the gold market in the West that the Chinese Central Bank was worried about a bubble developing in the gold price has been little heeded by the Chinese general public.  They seem to be more worried about the economic bubble of future high inflation and buying gold as the traditional preserver of wealth.

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buy GOLD bars You can also buy gold dory bars direct from a gold mine in the USA. http://solomonsgoldblog.blogspot.com/ by LeRoy Young on December 30 2009, 13:11 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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