Gold prices could shoot up through 2013, thanks to China having doubled its imports of the precious metal over last year and having put provisional rules in place for the creation of exchange-traded funds.
Going up sharply from 2011’s 431 tons, China imported some 834.5 tons of gold over 2012, Gold Price reports. Much of this likely occurred so that China could be ready to support the transition of the Chinese Yuan into a reserve currency.
The setup of gold ETFs, soon to become available to investors, is also bound to kick gold prices up. According to Gold Price, the U.S.-based gold dealer, it is the ETF arrangement that will have the biggest impact on the global gold market.
Arthur McGuire, Gold Price VP, in Gold Price’s press release:
“Gold investors shouldn’t disregard the buying habits of such a huge market as China. The country’s ramped-up buying of the physical element in 2012 is a practice that we will most likely see continue into 2013, and the latest news that China will finally open up ETFs to its domestic investors fares well for the gold price as well. Look at what happened to the gold price after the debuts of today’s largest gold ETFs: the gold price has risen more than 261% since SPDR Gold Trust ETF first appeared on the market in November 2004 and 281% since iShares Gold Trust made its February 2005 debut. Chinese ETFs and increased physical gold imports will drive up demand in Asia, which will in turn drive up the gold price worldwide.”
This means we should expect gold prices to go up much higher, which, in turn, should increase the attraction of the precious metal. For many, this would be seen as a virtuous cycle.
Gold Price is a precious metals advisor as well as a gold and silver dealer, operating since 1992.
