(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Gold demand in the UAE for total bars and coins witnessed the highest increase of 65 per cent to 3.3 tonnes in the March quarter of 2015 compared to two tonnes in the last quarter of 2014.
Dubai — Gold demand in the UAE recorded more than 55 per cent jump in the first quarter of 2015 compared to last quarter of 2014 in all three categories — jewellery tola bars and consumer — monitored by the World Gold Council or WGC.
Photo: Bloomberg
The council released its Gold Demand Trends report for the first quarter of 2015 on Thursday and said: “Gold demand dipped by one per cent to 1079.3 tonnes in a generally quiet quarter. Growth in India and the US could not prevent a modest downtick in jewellery demand.”
“Pockets of strength in jewellery were balanced by weakness elsewhere as demand responded to local conditions in each market. Higher volumes in India the US and the smaller Southeast Asian markets were set against declines in China Turkey Russia and the Middle East. The net result was a three per cent year-on-year contraction in the sector” the report revealed.
Gold demand in the UAE for total bars and coins witnessed the highest increase of 65 per cent to 3.3 tonnes in the March quarter of 2015 compared to two tonnes in the last quarter of 2014.
On a quarterly basis consumer demand jumped by more than 57 per cent to 19.8 tonnes compared to 12.6 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2014. Jewellery demand increased by 55.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 16.5 tonnes in the previous quarter.
Jewellery retailers in the country are optimistic for the rest of the year and hoped that stable and relatively affordable prices will continue to attract buyers.
“We expect jewellery consumption to continue to grow at a modest pace while retail investment in bars and coins is unlikely to return to the peaks we saw in the recent years” Joyalukkas chairman and managing director Joy Alukkas told Khaleej Times.
Gold prices are almost 10 per cent lower at the moment compared to same period last year. In the UAE the price of 24-carat gold was Dh147 per gramme on Thursday. The price was Dh16860 for a 10-tola bar.
Malabar Gold & Diamonds managing director for international operations Shamlal Ahamed also expects stable gold prices and a double-digit growth in sales this year. “We expect the sales pattern and demand will continue for now and increase to over 35 per cent in the last quarter of this year” Ahamed said.
In the UAE market total gold bar and coin demand increased by two per cent year on year but suffered seven per cent decline on a yearly basis for consumer demand. Jewellery demand also went down by eight per cent year-on-year.
Consumers’ gold demand in India and Pakistan recorded 15 per cent and 16 per cent increase respectively. India gold demand reached 191.7 tonnes while Pakistan’s stood at 8.3 tonnes in the first quarter of the year.
India’s total gold demand was lower than Chinese demand which despite a seven per cent year-on-year decline logged demand of 273 tonnes. Both countries alone accounted for 54 per cent of total global consumer demand in the first quarter.
The WGC said that Middle Eastern markets were generally weak across the region resulting in demand falling by 31 per cent to its lowest level since the second quarter of 2012.
—
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.