Gold Demand in China Slumps 52% After Buying Frenzy Subsides

Gold demand in China shrank in the second quarter as consumers in the biggest user bought fewer bars, coins and jewelry amid a clampdown on corruption and as the buying spurred by last year’s price slump wasn’t sustained.

Purchases in Asia’s largest economy plunged 52 percent to 192.5 metric tons in the three months to June from a year earlier, contributing to a drop in global consumption, the London-based World Gold Council said in a report today. Every Asian economy tracked by the producer-funded group bought less bullion in the period, apart from Taiwan, as demand across the biggest consuming region shrank 46 percent to 470.9 tons.