Commodity Online
BEIJING: Even as China is waxing eloquent its ability to tide over the present global recession unscathed, there are signs of the country getting hit in some areas due to the global economic slump.

According to World Gold Council, China’s gold sales are not expected to rise in 2009. And the sales will be stagnant due to the spill-over of the financial crisis.

According to WGC officials, the total sales volume in China will be the same as that of 2008, without posting growth.

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China, which has in the recent past become the number one producer of the yellow metal, is a strong market for gold as demand is still there but the appetite in markets like the United States is dropping.

Buying of gold jewelry, coins and bars in China, including the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, totaled 432.1 tonnes last year, an 18 per cent rise from the previous year.

The annual increase in tonnage, or 67 tonnes, last year easily exceeded that of any other country. The next closest were Vietnam and Thailand which both posted a rise of about 38 tonnes.

Expecting a slump in sales in China, the WGC has launched a campaign to boost sales of K-gold, or 18-carat, jewellery in China.

Italian designers are making more jewelry targeting Chinese consumers now.

In China, sales of 18-carat gold account for 16 per cent of the total gold jewellery sales, with the rest dominated by the traditional 24-carat, or 99.9 per cent pure, gold jewellery.

China is the world’s second-biggest gold consumer after India.

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