Customers select gold jewelries at a Lao Feng Xiang outlet in Shanghai. (LUO BIN/CHINA DAILY) Office worker Dai Qingxiang, 28, recently found herself facing a dilemma. She was considering buying gold accessories to add bling to her wardrobe, but the precious metal's soaring price was making her think twice.
Dai was finally persuaded by a close friend, Liu Nushi, to make the purchase, and on a sunny afternoon in May, she went to a jewelry store in Shanghai's southwestern Xuhui district to buy the accessories. Her initial reticence was understandable given the current global gold price surge. Due to healthy investment from the over-the-counter transactions market, ongoing central bank buying, and higher demand from Asian buyers, gold prices rose to a record quarterly average of $2,070 per ounce in the first quarter, World Gold Council data showed.
The amount is 10 percent higher year-on-year and 5 percent higher quarter-on-quarter. Domestic gold demand saw a 3 percent year-on-year growth in the first quarter, noticeably higher than the average of the past decade, the World Gold Council said. As young Chinese consumers shun traditional investments in favor of gold products, local Shanghai jewelry brands are trying their best to cash in on the rising demand with innovations in craftsmanship and consumer products.
Adapting to demand Shanghai Jinchenghuang is a time-honored brand established in Shanghai in 1934, and the privately owned company has preserved gold jewelry-making tech.