The demand for gold in China is set to double in terms of tonnage within just ten years according to the latest analysis from the World Gold Council (WGC), which is funded by the world’s leading gold mining companies. Chinese gold consumption was worth more than US$14 billion in 2009, which is equivalent to 11% of global gold demand.

Marcus Grubb, Managing Director, Investment at WGC, said: “Now one of the world’s largest economies, China has already rapidly become a prominent gold market. However, our analysis confirms that significant untapped growth potential exists in the Chinese gold market. In China, if gold demand continues to accelerate and becomes more comparable with other major markets, WGC expects it to double in tonnage terms within the next decade, which would represent annual gold demand of approximately US$29 billion at year end 2009 average prices.”

Over the past five years, demand for gold has increased at an average rate of 13% per annum in China. If gold were consumed in China at the same per capita rate as in India, Hong Kong or Saudi Arabia, annual Chinese demand could increase by 100 to 4,000 tons in the jewelry sector alone finds a recently launched report, Gold in the Year of the Tiger, provides an outlook for all aspects of gold’s supply and demand fundamentals in China.