After a decline in 2016, the year 2017 promises to be difficult for jewelry sales.
What kind 2017 is shaping up for the world of jewelry? The forecasts are difficult, but read the numbers gives some certainty. In this case there are the data of the World Gold Council, according to which the demand for gold jewelry has seen its biggest drop in two years. In the third quarter of 2016, purchases of gold have fallen by 21 percent, year over year, to 493.1 tons. The decline was largely due to the high prices of gold, which has climbed by about a thousand dollars an ounce to over 1300: the value of the yellow metal has reached the highest level since 2013. This increase of nearly 30 percent has been capable of curbing purchases of those who have already made supply of yellow metal at lower prices.
It seems, then, that the prospects are not very happy: the sales in the third quarter of 2016 marked are been for lower jewelry since 2011. In one year the demand for jewelery fell by 18 percent, the lowest level since 2009. But, of course, there are still the fourth quarter and the period of the winter holidays that it is the most profitable. But the conditions are not the best. And 2017?
East in red
India and China are the biggest jewelry buyers. And from Asia the news are not good: in India, sales decreased by 28 percent year on year. And in China the demand for gold jewelry fell by 22 percent. Among other things, the Chinese tastes are shifting from gold 24 carat traditional to 18 carats. In Indonesia, the largest in the Southeast market, demand fell by 6 per cent, in South Korea 24 percent, Japan by only 4 percent.
Middle East hot
The conflicts of the region and the decline in oil prices weigh on purchases: in Arab countries and Turkey purchases fell by 24 per cent, in Egypt as much as 50 percent because of the currency crisis that has almost doubled the price of gold . The only positive note is Iran, with an increase of 6 percent.
United States
After three years of steady growth in sales in the United States, the increase has stood at 1 percent.
Europe
Demand for gold jewelry fell 1 percent. In France, it seems, sales are at the lowest level in history. All other European markets saw year-over-year declines of 1 to 2 percent for the third quarter, with the exception of Spain, which gains 2 percent. Federico Graglia
