Gold demand
People have been trying to understand why gold prices rose by more than 20% and silver prices rose by almost 29% from Valentine's Day this year to last Friday.
Now we know what happened, reports Numismatic News.
The demand for gold from the Chinese government and individuals, already the world's largest gold consumers, was so great that imports did not keep up with demand. The Chinese want to buy gold to protect their finances against the weakness of the real estate and stock markets and against the risk of a further decline in the purchasing power of the renminbi.
Chinese citizens are willing to postpone delivery of their physical gold just to purchase it at current prices. The shortage of physical gold prompted the Chinese government to launch a media campaign urging citizens to buy silver instead of gold.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange, where buyers of the contract receive instant delivery of physical gold, and the Shanghai Futures Exchange combined have had higher average daily volume than the New York COMEX over the past two months. This makes Shanghai the second largest gold trading center in the world after the London Precious Metals Market Association (LBMA). These recent trends are likely to continue driving gold and silver prices higher, although not linearly, the article says.