An increase in gold sales during the Chinese Spring Festival holidays demonstrates consumers' confidence in gold, while the gold prices are continuing the upward trend in 2012, an expert told the Global Times yesterday.
Gold accessories make popular gift items in China especially during the Spring Festival holidays.
"The sales volume of gold bars issued for the Year of the Dragon, which are good gift items, was quite high during the holidays," Ai Chao, a salesman with Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Co, at the upmarket Shin Kong Place in Beijing, told the Global Times yesterday.
Gold sales at Beijing Caibai, a popular jewelry department store, increased tremendously during the holidays and were much better than the same period last year, a staff surnamed Niu at the sales and strategy department at Beijing Caibai, told the Global Times yesterday.
"We sold one gold necklace per minute on average during the peak time," Niu said.
As final sales figures have not been tallied, Niu could not give specific sales numbers for the holiday season.
A customer surnamed Wan spent around 4,388 yuan ($697.69) for a gold necklace and ring at Chow Sang Sang Jewelry Co at the New World Department Store in Beijing during the holidays.
"I gave them to my wife as New Year's gifts," Wan said.
Analysts said pressures of inflation and global economic woes also boosted gold demand.
"Many Chinese people lost lots of money in property and stock investments in 2011, so they prefer to buy gold to maintain the value of their savings amid high inflation," Liu Yangyi, a trader at the Shanghai Gold Exchange, told the Global Times yesterday.
"Besides, Chinese people have a special feeling toward the dragon, and sales of the gold jewelry in the Year of the Dragon are much better than in other years," Liu said, adding that the sales boom will normally last till the Lantern Festival, or February 6 in the case of this year.
The Chinese jewelry demand was 13 percent higher year-on-year at 131 tons, equivalent to 46 billion yuan. And China saw the demand for gold bars and coins expand by 24 percent from a year earlier levels to 60.2 tons in the third quarter of 2011, according to a report released by the World Gold Council in November 2011.
Liu noted that the price of gold in 2012 will continue to rise, after an increase of 10.2 percent in 2011 in the international market.