Tuesday, 24th January 2006 (4192 views)

The gold jewellery market showed impressive resilience in 2005, despite a boom in the price of the precious metal.

Gold prices may have soared to an 18-year high in December but annual global demand slipped back just five per cent during the year, according to London-based consultancy GFMS.

However, blistering progress in the first half of 2005 gave way to more muted demand towards the end of the year as rising prices inevitably took their toll.

Demand jumped by double digits in each of the first two quarters of the year. The third quarter was flat while in the fourth quarter demand dropped back double digits, undermining the progress of the previous nine months.

But although overall global demand fell, some of the gold industry's key markets registered solid growth in 2005.

Buoyed by a 50 per cent rise in first-half sales, demand in India – the world's largest gold consumer - was up year-on-year annually.

Turkey, which is the world's second largest gold jewellery producer, also saw demand rise.

Other key markets, such as Italy, saw demand tumble year-on-year as the spike in gold prices hit jewellers hard.

 

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