Physical gold demand slides to 7-year low in 2016
By GCRU Gold News on Thursday, January 26 2017, 13:57 - Permalink
Physical gold demand fell 20 percent last year to its lowest since 2009, GFMS analysts at Thomson Reuters said in a report on Thursday, as a rebound in prices after three straight years of losses blunted appetite for the metal.
Buying of jewellery, coins and bars, plus official sector and industrial demand, fell to 3,349 tonnes last year from 4,184 tonnes in 2015, the analysts said, the lowest in seven years.
That helped lift the net surplus in the gold market to 1,176 tonnes, up from just 220 tonnes in 2015 and the biggest physical surplus this century.