Gold consumption rebounded sharply in the first half of the year

　　Our reporter Ma Chunyang

　　According to data released by the China Gold Association on August 3, the actual national gold consumption in the first half of 2021 was 547.05 tons, an increase of 69.21% compared with the same period in 2020, and an increase of 4.49% compared with the same period in 2019 before the epidemic.

Among them: 348.56 tons of gold jewelry, an increase of 67.68% year-on-year; 151.10 tons of gold bars and gold coins, an increase of 96.28% year-on-year; 47.39 tons of industrial and other gold, an increase of 23.28% year-on-year.

　　Due to the low base in the same period last year, gold consumption rebounded sharply in the first half of the year.

With a series of policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption, especially in the second quarter, driven by the recovery of consumption during the Qingming Festival, May 1st, and Dragon Boat Festival, the recovery of gold jewelry consumption continued to increase, and the consumption of ancient gold jewelry continued to be strong. The rise has become the main driving force for the recovery of the industry.

　　It is worth mentioning that in the first half of the year, key gold jewelry sales companies have successively landed on the capital market. After "China Gold" was listed on the A-share market, the IPO of "Caibai" was also approved.

　　In terms of gold prices, as the global new crown vaccination rate has steadily increased, the epidemic has generally slowed down, the global economy is expected to rise, and the gold price has fluctuated and corrected in the first half of the year.

At the end of June, the spot price of spot gold in London was $1,763.15 per ounce, a decrease of 9.27% ​​from the beginning of the year.

Shanghai Gold Exchange Au9999 gold opened at 397.48 yuan/g and closed at 365.82 yuan/g at the end of June, a decrease of 7.97% from the beginning of the year. The weighted average price in the first half of the year was 376.62 yuan/g, still an increase of 2.07% over the same period of the previous year.

　　The China Gold Association stated that physical gold investment in the second quarter continued to maintain a high degree of enthusiasm. In particular, the gold price correction in June and the short-term “upside down” of domestic and foreign gold prices gave investors the opportunity to buy on dips.

Benefiting from the hot demand for new energy vehicles and electronic products, the demand for industrial gold continued to maintain steady growth.

　　In terms of gold production, the domestic raw material gold production in the first half of this year was 152.75 tons, a 17.32 tons reduction compared with the same period in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 10.18%. Among them, gold mining completed 122.72 tons and non-ferrous by-product gold completed 30.03 tons.

The supply of imported gold raw materials increased steadily. Imported raw materials produced 52.19 tons of gold, a year-on-year increase of 9.33%. If this part of imported raw materials produced gold, the country produced a total of 204.94 tons of gold, a year-on-year decrease of 5.90%.

　　It is understood that due to the impact of two safety accidents in Yantai at the beginning of the year, non-coal mines in Shandong Province began to stop production and conduct safety production inspections since February, which was the main reason for the decline in gold production in the first half of the country.

　　In addition, China National Gold, Shandong Gold, Zijin Mining, and Shandong Zhaojin and other large gold companies (groups) achieved 60.51 tons of mineral gold output in the first half of the year, accounting for 49.31% of the country, and the proportion is basically the same as in the same period in 2020.

　　Major projects at home and abroad are advancing steadily. Two world-class gold mines, the China Gold Shaling Gold Mine and the Shandong Zhaojin Haiyu Gold Mine, have obtained mining licenses. The project construction has entered the fast lane for full implementation and will become an important guarantee for domestic gold production in the future; Shandong Gold’s “International First-Class Demonstration Mine” was successfully checked and accepted, creating a new mode of construction and operation of “smart mines” and “ecological mining” for mining enterprises; Zijin Mining Serbia’s Chukalu-Peji copper-gold mine entered the trial production stage and will become my country’s overseas Another point of growth in gold production.

　　Ma Chunyang