Analysts expect demand for gold in India to surge in the second half of the year thanks to a good outlook for farmers.
A good start to the rainy season along with higher minimum support (MSP) for summer crops should boost the gold trade, according to a report in the Economic Times of India. Analysts expect a 25% increase in gold demand compared to the second half of last year.
Analysts say demand for gold in India will likely rise in the second half of the year thanks to a good monsoon season. Increasing demand for gold in the world’s second-largest market could help boost overall global demand for the yellow metal.
According to NDTV, monsoon rains hit Kerela at the end of May. This was a few days earlier than usual and bolstered an optimistic outlook for agricultural and economic output.
World Gold Council chief market strategist John Reade recently talked to Commodity TV about the current state of the gold market and what he sees in the future.
Reade cast an optimistic tone, saying the supply and demand fundamentals point toward a healthy, growing gold market moving forward.
Indians are hoarding their gold despite an increase in the price during the first quarter of 2018. Analysts say they are holding onto their gold in anticipation of bigger price increases.
Gold was up around 1.5% in dollar terms in the first quarter of this year. According to the Economic Times of India, the yellow metal appreciated 4.41% in rupees.
Even with that healthy increase, old gold sales in India fell by 35-40% in Q1 2018 compared to the previous quarter. According to the paper, analysts and traders think Indians are holding back selling in anticipation of further price increases, especially if the US and China get into a full-blown trade war.
There’s been a lot of focus on inflation and interest rates and how they will impact the gold market in the coming months. But gold has two fundamentals going for it that aren’t getting nearly the same kind of attention.
Simple supply and demand.
All kinds of factors impact the price of precious metals, but supply and demand are the most fundamental. With that in mind, the stage seems to be set for silver to have a strong year in 2018.
According to the Silver Institute 2018 Market Trends report, the silver market faces growing demand and shrinking supply in 2018.
We write a lot about India because people in the country love gold. Even the poor buy gold in India. Indians value gold as a store of wealth, especially in poor rural regions. Two-thirds of India’s gold demand comes from these areas, where the vast majority of people live outside the official tax system. Gold is one of the engines that make the Indian economy run.
India gets a lot of attention because it ranks as the world’s second-largest gold consumer, but it isn’t the only country with an affinity for the yellow metal. Gold has played a vital role in the history and economy of Vietnam, and still serves as an economic lifeline for the Vietnamese people today.
Earlier this month, World Gold Council chief market strategist John Reade said he expects gold to shine in 2018, and one of the primary reasons will be rising income growth in China and India.
A report recently published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research lends support to Reade’s prediction. According to the 2018 World Economic League Table, India will leapfrog France and England in 2018 to become the world’s fifth largest economy in dollar terms. The report also predicted that China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy in 2032.
Indians are buying silver.
India ranks as the second largest gold consumer in the world, behind only China, but Indians also have an appetite for the white metal. After a drop in silver demand last year, Indians are once again buying.
If you saw the headlines last week, you know overall global gold demand fell steeply in the third quarter of this year. But as we reported, there was a lot of good news for gold buried beneath the gloomy headlines.
Slumping Q3 gold demand in India was a big driver in the overall global decline, but even there, we see some signs of optimism. Indian gold-buying dropped off primarily due to new taxes and regulations imposed by the Indian government over the summer. There are already signs the market is adjusting
