Not so long ago, gold was at the peak of its popularity. However, these glory days are in the past now. The fact is that consumer demand for gold is falling. Market participants have not seen such a situation for more than 10 years.
According to the World Gold Council, in 2020, consumer demand for gold slumped to 4,000 tons reaching the lowest level in the past 11 years. Experts at the organization estimated that the annual demand tumbled by 14%. At the same time, data on the gold jewelry demand became a loud wake-up call. Last year, the indicator also hit its record low. The general demand for gold jewelry totaled just 1.4 thousand tons that is 34% below the reading logged in 2019. Curiously, consumer demand for gold is falling amid its extremely high investment attractiveness. Thus, investment demand surged by 40% year-over-year to a record 1.77 thousand tons. Gold prices advanced by 25%, whereas its supply dropped by 4%.