precious metals
Industry association: gold and silver in demand during the crisis
Brilliant investment: Gold is currently in great demand, as is silver. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa/dpa-tmn
© dpa-infocom GmbH
In the first three months of 2022 alone, demand increased by a quarter compared to the first quarter of 2021. Is this going to continue?
Times of crisis are good times for gold and silver: In view of the ongoing pandemic, economic uncertainty and now also the imponderables due to the Ukraine war, consumers are banking heavily on precious metals in the form of bars and coins.
In the first three months of this year alone, demand has increased by at least 25 percent compared to the same period last year, said Georg Steiner, chairman of the precious metals working committee of the precious metals trade association, on Wednesday. “Gold is now considered a crisis investment.” Certain products, such as smaller denominations of coins, were sometimes not immediately available.
Second record year in a row
The demand for bars and coins in Germany had already increased by 31 percent last year. A total of 161 tons of gold (previous year: 157) were sold in 2021 – the second record year in a row, said York Tetzlaff, the managing director of the trade association based in Pforzheim. On the other hand, there were sales of so-called paper gold, i.e. financial products that are based on the price of gold. Investors would have relied more on profit-taking here and sold the paper more, Steiner added.
Despite all the uncertainties, the precious metals industry ventures a cautiously positive forecast. “In the second quarter, the easing of the corona measures could lead to catch-up effects in both the technical industry and the jewelry industry,” said Steiner. As the federal association of the German precious metals industry, the trade association represents more than 30 companies in the sector.