Export Growth to Lift Italian Gold Jewellery Demand and Bullion Imports to Six-Year High

Metallis are releasing this snapshot on Italy’s export-focused gold jewellery fabrication to coincide with the recent conclusion of the Vicenza Fair as this marks a good opportunity to review developments so far this year and prospects for the rest of 2014 for Italy and its main overseas markets.
The key findings of the consultancy’s recent research is that Italian gold jewellery demand is on track to rise 11% in 2014 to a six-year high of 128 tonnes. This marks a continuation of the growth seen in 2013, when fabrication made a historic turnaround; then a 24% rebound began a recovery from a decade or so of consecutive losses.
Domestic scrap is also forecast to finish 2014 down 22%, while inflows of scrap could fall by almost 30%. All this is slated to lift gross gold bullion imports by 15% to just over 105 tonnes, their highest level since 2008.
Even stronger growth of 39% for the first half is reported in shipments to China/Hong Kong. Meader noted, “this boom is interesting as it shows the 18-carat segment in China is still going strong, even if the far larger 24-carat sector, which Italy doesn’t serve, couldn’t match 2013’s heady results”.

This post was published at Sharps Pixley