Gold Supply and Demand – Q3 2009

Total identifiable gold demand for the third quarter 2009 reached 800.3 tonnes, or US$24.7 billion in dollar terms, up 15% from the second quarter, as gold’s long-term store of value and wealth preservation qualities continued to attract investors and consumers. Jewellery and investment demand in non-western markets rebound from the very low levels seen in the first quarter, while industrial demand started to recover in response to an improvement in economic conditions.

However, the Q3’09 Gold Demand Trends Report, released by the World Gold Council (WGC), shows a 34% drop on year earlier levels due to an exceptionally strong Q3’08, which saw soaring demand in response to the deepening global financial crisis and as many non-western markets responded to a dip in the gold price in that quarter. To address this, WGC compared Q3’09 against the five year Q3 demand average to 2007, which showed tonnage down just 4% on this basis.

While Q3’09 exchange traded funds (ETF) and inferred investment fell slightly quarter on quarter, jewellery, industrial and retail investment demand recorded improvements, demonstrating the unique diversity of demand drivers that support the gold price.

Read more about Gold Demand Trends in our detailed report, which also includes commentary on supply.

Press release: Gold demand remains robust as economic conditions improve

Data on the supply and demand for gold are compiled by GFMS Ltd. The company provides a number of tables exclusively for the World Gold Council. The following table shows a summary of gold demand. Links to more detailed tables, and to notes and copyright information, are given below. Please note the restrictions on disseminating these data.

Supply and demand statistics files

End-use consumption (tonnes) This provides details of jewellery consumption, industrial and dental fabrication, and all categories of investment which are statistically identifiable.

End-use consumption ($m) Similar information in US dollars.

Supply and demand (tonnes) In addition to a summary of demand information this also shows the categories of supply: mine output, net hedging or de-hedging by mining companies, scrap and net central bank sales.

Notes and copyright information

 

Identifiable gold demand ¹

Notes: Source: GFMS Ltd. 1. Identifiable end-use consumption excluding central banks. 2. Provisional . 3. “Other retail” excludes primary coin offtake; it represents mainly activity in North America and Western Europe.  4. Exchange Traded Funds and similar products including:  Gold Bullion Securities, (London) , Gold Bullion Securities (Australia),  SPDR® Gold Shares (formerly streetTRACKS Gold Shares), NewGold Gold Debentures, iShares Comex Gold Trust, ZKB Gold ETF, GOLDIST, ETF Securities Physical Gold, XETRA-GOLD, Julius Baer Physical Gold, Central Fund of Canada, and Central Gold Trust.

© Copyright 2009 World Gold Council and GFMS Ltd. All rights reserved.

Data on the supply and demand for gold are compiled by GFMS Ltd. The company provides a number of tables exclusively for the World Gold Council. Please refer to the notes and copyright information for details regarding the restrictions on disseminating these data. GFMS should be contacted for further information or for historical data. In addition, certain data are available on Bloomberg.