Chinese households are the world's largest buyers, with even the renminbi and other major currencies, including the US dollar, hitting record highs last year. They still bought more**.
This is the first increase in private purchases** in China since 2017, and it comes amid the gold price**. This is in stark contrast to the "**sensitive" behavior of the past decade, when Chinese bought ** more like Indians, and India is now the world's second largest ** consumer.
Starting with the Chinese New Year, which is in high demand, China's jewelry purchases have increased by 8 percent in 2023, according to new data released today by the China Association, an industry body0%, while demand for coins and small gold bars increased by 15 by weight7%。
This has led to a 10% increase in the total amount of gold bars in the most advanced products purchased by Chinese households compared to 20221%, reaching more than 1,006 tonnes, nearly 82 tonnes higher than the average of the previous five years on China** association data, and a third higher than 2020 association figures, a year when the pandemic and lockdown measures hit China's retail sales hard.
In 2023, the global economy has been hit by multiple shocks from the pandemic, climate change and geopolitical crises. Against this backdrop, China has accumulated 20% for the whole year, hitting a five-year low. Many investors lost a lot of money in this crash.
However, at a time of turmoil, Chinese families have shown a strong preference for another asset – that is. According to the latest data, the consumption of Chinese households reached a record high in 2023, with a year-on-year increase of 305%, up 23. year-over-year in US dollar terms8%, totaling more than $56 billion. This figure is equivalent to 032%, which is the highest share of GDP purchased by Chinese households since 2016.
There are three main forms of Chinese household purchases: jewelry, gold coins, and small gold bars. Among them, ** jewelry is the most popular, accounting for more than 70% of ** consumption. Gold coins and small gold bars account for less than 30% of spending.
Chinese households are motivated to buy ** in two ways: one is to protect their wealth, and the other is to seek higher yields. In fact, the demand of Chinese families for ** is not static, but changes with the changes in the market. We can learn about the reaction of Chinese families to ** from several key moments in history:
2013: This year was the highest point in the past decade when the proportion of GDP purchased by Chinese households reached 064%。The year was marked by a global plunge from $1,700 an ounce to $1,200 an ounce, the biggest drop in nearly 30 years. This has sparked the psychology of Chinese consumers, who are rushing to buy jewelry, gold coins and small gold bars in the hope of getting a great return on investment. However, the year was also the lowest point for China**, when the Shanghai Composite Index fell below 2,000 points, a new five-year low. This shows that the demand of Chinese households for ** in 2013 was mainly for speculative purposes, rather than for hedging purposes.
2016: This year was the lowest point in the last decade when the share of GDP purchased by Chinese households fell to 016%。This year was marked by a new normal for China's economy, with a slowdown in growth and structural adjustment. In the process, China** experienced a violent fluctuation, falling from 5,000 points in 2015 to 3,000 points in 2016, and then rebounded to 4,000 points. This has led to a loss of confidence among Chinese investors, who have turned to more stable and diversified investment channels, such as bonds, ** and real estate. And **, as an asset with no income, loses its appeal. This shows that the demand for ** by Chinese households in 2016 was mainly for hedging purposes, rather than for speculative purposes.
2023: This year was the second-highest point in nearly a decade when Chinese households purchased ** as a percentage of GDP rose to 032%。The year was marked by multiple crises in the global economy, leading to uncertainty and panic in the markets. In this context, China has also encountered an unprecedented crisis, with a total of 20% for the whole year, hitting a five-year low. This has sparked a safe-haven demand from Chinese consumers, who are buying ** to protect their wealth. At the same time, as China's economy has shown strong resilience and recovery on a global scale, Chinese consumers also have certain expectations for the future market, and they believe that it is expected to be further in the future, so there are also some people who buy it in order to seek higher returns. This shows that the demand of Chinese households for ** in 2023 has both a risk-off component and a speculative component.
The People's Bank of China also reported that it opted for a record ** purchase in 2023, adding 225t** to its foreign exchange reserves, the strongest annual increase outside of 2009 and 2015.
Driven by a series of policies to boost retail consumption," said a report released by the China ** Association, "China's consumer market continues to recover from the 2020 COVID crisis,* and silver jewellery became the fastest-growing category of all retail sectors last year.
Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics shows that retail sales of **, silver jewellery and jewellery increased by 13 percent last year3%, outpacing sports and recreational goods (up 11.).2%) and communication equipment (up 7.0%), indicating that the position of ** in China's consumption structure is constantly improving.
In December, **jewellery sales** performed well," The Times quoted Wanlian as saying that "Alibaba (HKG: 9988) saw an 18% year-on-year growth rate last month, the second-largest ** retailer JD.com (HKG: 9618) grew 63% and Suning (SHE: 002024) reached a 37% platform growth rate." These data show that the demand and enthusiasm of Chinese consumers for ** have not only not weakened, but have been released and expanded on the Internet platform.
Against the backdrop of global economic turmoil, **, as a safe-haven asset, has attracted the attention of more and more Chinese private investors.
Last summer, when there was a rare ** in the world, China's private ** demand ushered in a wave of enthusiasm. At the same time, other investment channels, such as real estate,** and bank deposits, have been affected by the slowdown in economic growth and have underperformed, causing investors to lose confidence.
The Shanghai Exchange is an important place for China's largest trading and the vane of China's largest trading platform. In 2024, the Shanghai ** Exchange has repeatedly hit new highs, and even broke the all-time record of 483 yuan per gram last week. Behind this phenomenon is the continued depreciation of the renminbi against the US dollar and the sharp rise in China, which has led investors to seek a more stable store of value.