Continued growth in central bank buying and growth in gold-backed exchange-traded funds contributed to a 7% year-on-year increase in global gold demand to 1 053.3 t for the first quarter of this year, the World Gold Council’s (WGC’s) latest ‘Gold Demand Trends’ (GDT) report shows.
Gold demand for the first quarter of 2018 had been below 1 000 t, the WGC noted on Thursday.
WGC member and market relations head John Mulligan told Mining Weekly Online that the WGC was also expecting a “fairly robust” second quarter in terms of gold demand, with the investment picture hinging on what the medium-market sentiment will be regarding risk in terms of gold.
The GDT report aims to map market flows, such as where demand is coming from and where it is going, as well as where the supply and demand balance is, in order to provide stakeholders with rational and consistent information on which to base decisions.