Source: China Daily

02-24-2009 18:17

In 2008, platinum demand for jewelry use in China was estimated at around 0.76 million ounces, accounting for 68 percent of the global total of 1.12 million ounces, according to the Platinum 2008 Interim Review released by Johnson Matthey, the world's leading authority on the platinum industry.

It was the ninth year China had the world's largest market for platinum jewelry since 2000.

China's platinum jewelry market experienced unprecedented challenges in 2008, mainly due to widely fluctuating platinum prices.

In the first half of the year, high prices drove manufacturers to adopt a very cautious attitude toward procurement and led them to optimize their inventory management systems.

Manufacturers made more efforts to recycle platinum to reduce risks, while high platinum prices also depressed platinum jewelry sales.

However, with platinum prices falling in the second half of 2008 and along with proactive domestic fiscal policies, the platinum market is expected to see new opportunities in 2009, said Platinum Guild International (PGI), a global organization dedicated to promoting platinum jewelry.

PGI said that this situation was due to a combination of several factors: a drop in platinum prices as a result of falling industrial demand; China's proactive domestic fiscal policies stimulating domestic spending, Chinese consumers' passion for platinum, and the consistent promotion of platinum over the past decade.

Since the onset of the global financial crisis in the third quarter last year, industrial demand for platinum has fallen, along with the global price of platinum. The falling platinum price then triggered a desire to purchase among domestic manufacturers.