Video: ‘powerhouses’ China and India on jewelry-buying binge

Here is a breakdown of second quarter 2013 gold demand trends by David Lamb, Managing Director of Jewelry at the World Gold Council (WGC):

As detailed in a recent article by MINING.com’s Cecilia Jamasmie, the most striking figures from WGC’s report are the increases in consumer physical gold buying (up 53% globally) driven by Chinese (54% increase) and Indian (51%) demand.

The recent data “reinforces just how the Chinese belief of holding gold as a store of value has become even more entrenched.”

And in India, the consumer demand increase is most notable because it has happened in the face of strong, consecutive measures by the Indian government to reduce gold imports as a way of shrinking its trade deficit.