China's net gold imports via main conduit Hong Kong climbed to a three-month high in March on restocking after the new year holiday, but market sources said consumer demand remained soft. Gold is a popular gift during the Lunar New Year holiday, which was observed in early February this year. China's imports hit a 17-month low in January, but recovered the following month.
The top consumer's net gold imports climbed to 71.8 tonnes last month from 53.9 tonnes in February, according to data emailed to Reuters by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. Total imports rose to 76.2 tonnes from 55.1 tonnes. "Banks have been importing some gold in the first quarter. But the effects from the weak demand will show up in the next few months," said a source at a major Chinese bank.
"After the holiday, in February and March, Chinese banks have been importing quite a lot. But premiums have been going down in recent weeks, and the effect will show in April and May imports," he said. Data last week from Switzerland, a major storage and refining centre for precious metals, showed that gold exports to China in March fell by a third from a year ago. Tuesday's Hong Kong data, however, showed a small increase from March 2015.
Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong, said there could have been delays in imports in February due to the holiday and that was reflected in the higher March numbers. "But physical demand is not very aggressive. We are seeing only some investment demand coming in," Leung said. Chinese demand has been soft this year as a 16 percent rally in gold prices has curbed appetite for price-sensitive jewellery purchases.
Comments
Comments are closed.