TEMPO.CO, Hong Kong - Lunar New Year celebrations boost jewelry sales in China. It is believed that the year of the Wooden Horse is the perfect time for marriage and to conceive a baby. International Business Times reported on January 30, 2014, that jewelry storeowners recorded high sales rates.
They said customers tend to save up their monthly income to buy gold jewelry, such as horse-shaped pendants. Storeowners race to order them so they do not run out. “My parents told me, gold can bring luck and its value remains stable,” said Jiang Xue, an accountant who buys jewelry in Hong Kong.
A retail jewelry company based in Hong Kong, Chow Tai Fok, reported that sales went up 26 percent in the past three months since December 2013. “Gold will teach young people the importance of investment at an early age,” said Jiang.
Jiang saves nearly half of her monthly salary, US$690, to buy gold jewelry, which she will give to her mother. She is also planning to buy little horse-shaped jewelry for her nephews.
The high demand caused gold prices in Hong Kong to soar in the past three months. Gold retail companies, such as Chow Sang Sang Holdings International, Luk Fook Holdings International, Lao Feng Xiang Co, and Zhejiang Ming Jewelry Co, raised prices by 5.9 percent.
This trend contradicts the global price trend of gold, which has dropped 9.3 percent within the past three months and 1.7 percent in January 2014. Experts say the increase in gold jewelry prices is supported by the decrease in prices of gold bars. This has enabled the people to afford jewelry for their families.
“In China, prices of gold bars and jewelry contradict each other,” said an analyst from Orient Securities, Yang Chunyan. “The lower the gold bar prices, the more the Chinese people buy jewelry.”
India, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are the world’s biggest markets for gold jewelry. According to HSBC, the demand for gold jewelry in those countries contributes to 60 percent of the total global jewelry sales in 2013. The numbers are higher compared to 2004, when the contribution was only 35 percent.
ABDUL MALIK
