MANAMA: World jewellery fabrication, excluding China, actually increased by 6% in 2014, according to Deloitte report.
Thomson Reuters released “Gold 2015”, the 49th in the series of annual Surveys, looking at the shifts and developments in the global gold markets, their fundamentals and their drivers, over the year and setting the scene for future.
The result of the massive surge in jewellery demand in China in 2013 was a fall of 35% in Chinese jewellery consumption and 31% in local jewellery fabrication last year. Even so, Chinese jewellery fabrication in 2014 was 7% higher than in 2012 and the second highest on record. Heavy leasing activity in the local market has led to suggestions that retail demand was much higher than was actually the case. India, despite import restrictions, reached another record in both fabrication and consumption terms, reflecting the determined affinity of the Indian people for gold. China and India between them accounted for 54% of the world’s jewellery including bar and medal demand in 2014.