(Kitco News) – India is one of the biggest gold consumers in the world and some of the latest statistics have been released by the World Gold Council. Today gold is trading at $1826/oz around 0.22% higher after a tough session on Thursday.
Retail demand in India remained strong during the first three weeks of May due to wedding- and festival-related purchases before slowing towards the end of the month. The local market surged to a premium of US$4-5/oz by the third week of May but flipped back to a discount of US$3-4/oz by the end of the month as retail demand softened
Official imports remained firm at 98t in May, significantly higher than official imports in April this year (27.1t) and May 2021 (11.4t)
Looking at investment ETFs witnessed a modest net inflow of 0.4t in May. This was said to be driven by higher inflation and a depreciating rupee. Total holdings increased to 38.9t
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) added 3.7t of gold in May, increasing its total gold reserves to 765.1t.