Watch China!
Higher demand brings higher prices, and China's appetite for gold is sure to bring higher prices as the world's newest financial superpower continues its buying binge.

This from Adrian Ash at BullionVault.com
Rising 85% by weight since 2004, China's private gold demand has more than quadrupled in Dollars. It pretty much doubled by value in terms of both Dollars and the Renminbi in the last two years alone, rising to $13.6 billion in 2009.


Overall, China accounted for more than 14% of global gold investment and jewelry demand last year on the World Gold Council/GFMS data - a close second to the 16% of private world hoarding swallowed by India.


Now the World Gold Council forecasts that China's annual gold consumption has the potential to double in the next 10 years. Its new report notes the link between China's gold demand, runaway GDP growth, and phenomenal household savings rate. But it doesn't put a figure on that relationship - itself a blunt rebuke of the idea that modernization and consumer capitalism would see gold cast off as a barbaric relic...