India again took the place of the world's largest consumer of gold, having bought 225.1 tons of gold jewelry, coins and ingots last year, compared to 182.7 tons in China. In India, which ceded its position as the leading buyer of gold to China in 2011, in the third quarter there was a surge in demand for jewelry by 60%, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).
"Our forecast for the year for India and China remains the same, we expect that the demand in both countries will be 850-950 tons, and that and the other countries remain very positive pillars of the demand for gold," said Alistair Hewitt, , head of the market analysis department of the World Gold Council.
World demand for gold has grown rapidly as a result of the financial crisis of 2008. It reached its peak in 2011, amounting to 4,702 tons, but decreased to 4 080 tons by 2013. This year, the World Gold Council expects that the demand for this precious metal will stabilize. "We expect that the demand for gold will largely remain at the level of the previous year and amount to 4,000-4,100 tons," Hewitt said.
The global demand for gold jewelry, being the largest consumer segment, fell by 4 percent, to 534 tons. Among the sources of supply, mining increased by 1 percent, to 812 tons, while scrap shipments fell 25 percent to 250.5 tons. In 2014, the lowest level of gold processing was registered since 2007, according to the World Gold Council.