Demand for gold made a slight recovery in jewelry and industrial markets, an industry trade group said yesterday.
Jewelry, the biggest market for gold, had the smallest decline of the year in the fourth quarter — down 8 percent — as stronger demand in India and China offset weaker markets in Western countries, the World Gold Council (WGC) said. It was an indication some consumers are adjusting to higher prices, the council said. Gold jumped 38 percent in the quarter to an average of US$1,099.63 an ounce.
Overall, demand among investors, industrial users and jewelry makers totaled 819.7 tonnes in the last three months of last year.
That was down from 1,077.1 tonnes in the year-ago quarter.
The industrial and dental uses sector saw an 11 percent increase to 99.7 tonnes, largely because of fresh demand from electronics manufacturers.
“What we’ve seen is the beginnings of, and I don’t want to overstress this, but the beginnings of what seems like a bit of recovery in both jewelry and industrial,” said George Milling-Stanley, the council’s managing director for government affairs.
The group, which is based in London, saw more interest in emerging markets such as India, typically the No. 1 gold consumer, and China.
India’s gold consumption for jewelry rose 27 percent in the quarter to 137.8 tonnes. China reported a 2 percent increase to 86.5 tonnes for use in jewelry. In the US, it fell 17 percent, the council said.
Total global investment fell 50 percent to 219.5 tonnes. A year ago, investors sought out gold as a safe haven as the global recession deepened.
For the year, gold demand totaled 3,385.8 tonnes, compared with 3,305.7 tonnes in 2008.
Jewelry consumption fell 20 percent to 1,747.3 tonnes; investment rose 7 percent to 1,270.9 tonnes; and industrial and dental use fell 16 percent to 367.6 tonnes.
Because of the rising prices, the gold demand was valued at a little more than US$100 billion last year for the second consecutive year.
Looking ahead, the council expects the jewelry and industrial demand to continue to improve as long as the world economy is recovering.
Investors likely will continue to invest either way. If the economy weakens, they will look to gold as a safe haven; if it improves, they will look to gold to hedge against inflation, the council said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six