India’s gold market in February: retail demand weakened further but imports rebounded
Retail demand weakened as a sudden spike in the gold price resulted in the postponement of gold purchases in the second half of the month.
China’s gold market in February: wholesale physical gold demand seasonally lower
Due to fewer working days in the month and manufacturers’ active replenishing ahead of the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, gold withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) in February fell m-o-m.
Gold ETFs inflows continue in February amid high inflation and geopolitical risk
Global gold ETFs drew net inflows of 35.3t (US$2.1bn, 1.0% of AUM) in February. Positive flows were almost evenly split between North American and European funds, continuing the year-to-date growth in Western markets and considerably outweighing outflows from Asia. Global net inflows were driven by stubbornly high inflation and a surge in geopolitical risk on the back of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which pushed the gold price to an intra-month high of US$1,936/oz.
China's gold market outlook 2022
In 2021, the 56% y-o-y rise in China’s gold consumption marked a strong comeback from 2020.
China’s gold market in January: gold consumption boomed during the holiday season
China’s gold consumption boomed during the CNY holiday. A lower local gold price and freed-up travel budgets – due to COVID outbreaks in different regions – might have spurred consumer interest in gold products, especially Heritage gold jewellery and tiger-themed items.
India’s gold market in January: retail demand remained soft and imports declined
Gold ETFs bounce back to begin 2022 led by North American funds
Global gold ETFs drew net inflows of 46.3t (US$2.7bn, 1.3% of AUM) in January, led by North American funds – partially offsetting the region’s 2021 outflows. These combined with positive flows from Europe significantly outweighed Asian outflows. Overall, net inflows were driven largely by gold price strength and a sharp selloff in equity markets, despite a reversal in the gold price on the back of a hawkish US Fed statement towards the end of the month.
Gold Demand Trends Full Year 2021
Annual demand recovered across virtually all sectors – the notable exception being ETFs, which saw net annual outflows
