World Gold Council: Gold Investment Demand Tripled

The bar and coin retail investment demand totalled 282 tonnes in Q1.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The overall gold investment demand more than trebled in Q1 this year, compared with the corresponding first quarter in 2021, says the Gold Demand Trends Q1 2022 Report published by the World Gold Council (WGC). The demand totalled 550.7 tonnes during the quarter, compared with 181.8 tonnes in Q1 2021.

The investment demand for gold returned to levels seen during the early months of the pandemic in 2020. The heightened geopolitical risk, resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, further encouraged investment flows.

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The bar and coin retail investment demand totalled 282 tonnes in Q1. Although the demand looked healthy upon comparison with longer-term averages, it was down significantly by 20% over the year. The drop in demand was mainly on account of weakness in China, Turkey and Japan. The bar and coin demand in China fell sharply by 43% year-on-year to 49 tonnes in Q1, WGC noted.

The global gold ETFs registered net inflows of 269 tonnes, registering the highest quarter of inflows since Q3 2020. The strong demand lifted the global holdings to 3,836 tonnes at the end of the quarter. The inflows were mainly driven by Western funds. Funds listed in North America grew by 171 tonnes. Also, European-listed funds recorded net inflows of 111 tonnes. On the other hand, Asia emerged as the only region to witness outflows, recording 11% dip in holdings during the quarter.

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