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from April 10 to 16， the price of gold plummeted 15 percent from $1，588 per ounce to $1，321 per ounce in the international market， the biggest single-week price plunge in history. On April 12， New York gold futures were down 4.1 percent to $1，501 per ounce. The same day， gold stores in Beijing like Caibai Jewelry， lowered their prices for gold jewelry as pure gold stumbled to 385 yuan （$61.11） per gram.
The dramatic plunge has triggered a buying frenzy across China， one of the biggest gold-consuming countries in Asia.
“The price for gold jewelry has dropped roughly 30 yuan （$4.76） per gram from last year. If you buy a 70-gram bracelet， the price is 2，000 yuan （$317.46） lower than several months ago，” said a buyer who declined to reveal her name in Caibai， the largest gold and jewelry merchant in Beijing.
In Beijing， many consumers queued up in front of Caibai in the early morning to snap up gold products. A total of 20，000 gram gold bars were sold in less than two hours， generating sales of 6 million yuan （$952，381）， a figure not seen since last October.
Love for gold
A better explanation for the gold-buying binge is its use as an inflation hedge. In the early 20th century， with constantly changing governments， Chinese people developed a consciousness for accumulating gold. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949， the Chinese Government had begun to issue paper money by virtue of national credit. Some speculators in Shanghai then conspired to bid up the price of gold by not using Renminbi in trade， resulting in the government suspending private transactions of gold from 1950 to 1982.
In 2002， gold transactions were finally liberalized and the Shanghai Gold Exchange（SGE） was set up. In a sense， Chinese people are still not mature when it comes to gold investment， and more and more precious metal investment tools and transaction channels have been a response to Chinese people’s longing for gold.
Hoarding gold was traditionally considered to be the best way to preserve wealth. Rapid economic growth and increased income allowed gold to take on an increasingly prominent position in household financial planning. Still， gold asset allocation in China is still no more than 1 percent， lagging far behind the 5 to 10 percent of the global average.
“Chinese investors have began to go bottom fishing since the second day when the price of gold began to collapse，” said Zhao Xiangbin， a gold analyst. The drive behind the so-called “gold rush” is rigid demand. The price of gold on the SGE dropped from 396 yuan （$62.86） per gram in the previous year to 266 yuan （$42.22） per gram， spurring those who couldn’t afford it before to snap it up. The gloomy stock market， squeezed housing market and sluggish economy leave investors with few choices. A significant price drop makes gold a good option for investment.
The price of gold is now quite close to its production cost， and the optimistic attitude shown by sovereign wealth funds also encourages Chinese people to throw themselves into the “gold rush” dauntlessly.“Gold is a major reserve for economies， and the vigorous growth of emerging economics indicates that the gold supply is still inadequate. In the long run， the price of gold will experience a rise，” said Jin Liqun， Supervising Chairman of China Investment Corporation at an investment forum in Beijing.
A comeback
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery， the world’s largest jewelry retailer by market value， says some of its stores in China had run out of gold bars， and demand for gold products had never been so dynamic in China since the late 1980s. Volume on the SGE， considered a proxy for the metal’s demand in China， surged， setting consecutive records of 30.4 metric tons on April 19 and 43.3 tons on April 22.
“Within the 10 days following the collapse of the price of gold， Chinese investors alone had swallowed 300 tons of physical gold， accounting for 10 percent of the global annual gold output，” said Song Hongbing， a scholar of international finance. “A total of 600 tons of gold is needed to fill up the inventories of the domestic gold industry，”
As Chinese people emptied the shelves in the mainland， they also went south and swarmed shops in Hong Kong. According to statistics from the Immigration Department of Hong Kong， roughly 121，000 mainland tourists arrived in Hong Kong on April 28， up 24 percent from a year ago. On April 29， the number surged to 162，000.
Local media reported that many gold stores had queues spilling onto the street， and most of the customers were from the mainland， splashing out hundreds of thousands of yuan to purchase gold bars or jewelry. The Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society is likely to run out of gold stock， something not seen in the past five decades. At the same time， Hong Kong has promptly turned to London for physical gold to stock depleted supplies.
As the price of gold began to pick up in the international market， gold products at some big name jewelers have gained some price momentum. Compared with the lowest price registered 10 days ago， gold jewelers Chow Sang Sang and Chow Tai Fook have seen their products rise by 30 yuan per gram.
From April 10， when the dramatic fall began， institutional investors rushed to unload gold， while investors in Asian countries like China and India have forcefully jacked up the price. That has led to a price comeback. Goldman Sachs and the United Bank of Switzerland， which first suggested investors gamble on a further drop in the price of gold， have changed their outlook. Strong demand in Asia pushed New York gold futures up 4.2 percent last week to $1，452.6 per ounce. Meanwhile， the buying spree continues.
One netizen aptly summed up the buying frenzy in China. “No matter how powerful Wall Street analysts are， in the seesaw battle， they have lost to Chinese buyers.”
The dramatic plunge has triggered a buying frenzy across China， one of the biggest gold-consuming countries in Asia.
“The price for gold jewelry has dropped roughly 30 yuan （$4.76） per gram from last year. If you buy a 70-gram bracelet， the price is 2，000 yuan （$317.46） lower than several months ago，” said a buyer who declined to reveal her name in Caibai， the largest gold and jewelry merchant in Beijing.
In Beijing， many consumers queued up in front of Caibai in the early morning to snap up gold products. A total of 20，000 gram gold bars were sold in less than two hours， generating sales of 6 million yuan （$952，381）， a figure not seen since last October.
Love for gold
A better explanation for the gold-buying binge is its use as an inflation hedge. In the early 20th century， with constantly changing governments， Chinese people developed a consciousness for accumulating gold. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949， the Chinese Government had begun to issue paper money by virtue of national credit. Some speculators in Shanghai then conspired to bid up the price of gold by not using Renminbi in trade， resulting in the government suspending private transactions of gold from 1950 to 1982.
In 2002， gold transactions were finally liberalized and the Shanghai Gold Exchange（SGE） was set up. In a sense， Chinese people are still not mature when it comes to gold investment， and more and more precious metal investment tools and transaction channels have been a response to Chinese people’s longing for gold.
Hoarding gold was traditionally considered to be the best way to preserve wealth. Rapid economic growth and increased income allowed gold to take on an increasingly prominent position in household financial planning. Still， gold asset allocation in China is still no more than 1 percent， lagging far behind the 5 to 10 percent of the global average.
“Chinese investors have began to go bottom fishing since the second day when the price of gold began to collapse，” said Zhao Xiangbin， a gold analyst. The drive behind the so-called “gold rush” is rigid demand. The price of gold on the SGE dropped from 396 yuan （$62.86） per gram in the previous year to 266 yuan （$42.22） per gram， spurring those who couldn’t afford it before to snap it up. The gloomy stock market， squeezed housing market and sluggish economy leave investors with few choices. A significant price drop makes gold a good option for investment.
The price of gold is now quite close to its production cost， and the optimistic attitude shown by sovereign wealth funds also encourages Chinese people to throw themselves into the “gold rush” dauntlessly.“Gold is a major reserve for economies， and the vigorous growth of emerging economics indicates that the gold supply is still inadequate. In the long run， the price of gold will experience a rise，” said Jin Liqun， Supervising Chairman of China Investment Corporation at an investment forum in Beijing.
A comeback
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery， the world’s largest jewelry retailer by market value， says some of its stores in China had run out of gold bars， and demand for gold products had never been so dynamic in China since the late 1980s. Volume on the SGE， considered a proxy for the metal’s demand in China， surged， setting consecutive records of 30.4 metric tons on April 19 and 43.3 tons on April 22.
“Within the 10 days following the collapse of the price of gold， Chinese investors alone had swallowed 300 tons of physical gold， accounting for 10 percent of the global annual gold output，” said Song Hongbing， a scholar of international finance. “A total of 600 tons of gold is needed to fill up the inventories of the domestic gold industry，”
As Chinese people emptied the shelves in the mainland， they also went south and swarmed shops in Hong Kong. According to statistics from the Immigration Department of Hong Kong， roughly 121，000 mainland tourists arrived in Hong Kong on April 28， up 24 percent from a year ago. On April 29， the number surged to 162，000.
Local media reported that many gold stores had queues spilling onto the street， and most of the customers were from the mainland， splashing out hundreds of thousands of yuan to purchase gold bars or jewelry. The Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society is likely to run out of gold stock， something not seen in the past five decades. At the same time， Hong Kong has promptly turned to London for physical gold to stock depleted supplies.
As the price of gold began to pick up in the international market， gold products at some big name jewelers have gained some price momentum. Compared with the lowest price registered 10 days ago， gold jewelers Chow Sang Sang and Chow Tai Fook have seen their products rise by 30 yuan per gram.
From April 10， when the dramatic fall began， institutional investors rushed to unload gold， while investors in Asian countries like China and India have forcefully jacked up the price. That has led to a price comeback. Goldman Sachs and the United Bank of Switzerland， which first suggested investors gamble on a further drop in the price of gold， have changed their outlook. Strong demand in Asia pushed New York gold futures up 4.2 percent last week to $1，452.6 per ounce. Meanwhile， the buying spree continues.
One netizen aptly summed up the buying frenzy in China. “No matter how powerful Wall Street analysts are， in the seesaw battle， they have lost to Chinese buyers.”