The World Gold Council said yesterday it plans to expand the market share of high-end piece-priced 24-carat gold jewelry to 15 percent by 2010.
Such pieces are less vulnerable to price fluctuation of gold as they are more design-driven rather than just dependent on sales by weight, Gerry Chen, director of Only Gold Project and area manager in Taiwan of the council, told Shanghai Daily yesterday.
The practice of selling fancy 24-carat gold jewelry with prices set by piece rather by the traditional weight-set measure, was introduced on the Chinese mainland in Beijing and Shanghai in March 2007. The council has started the practice in six major cities including Hangzhou, Jinan, Nanjing and Wuhan. To achieve the 2010 target, the council plans to further expand the practice in more cities.
Paying for gold jewelry by design rather than by weight, or the high-end sector, accounts for 5 percent of gold sales now.
Manufacturers of these high-end products can command nearly triple the processing fee than by selling by weight because the high-end pieces are more demanding in design and creativity.
The Chinese have a traditional frenzy for 24-carat, or 99.9 percent pure gold, as a hedge or symbol of fortune. That explains why 24-carat gold accounts for the lion's share of the domestic gold jewelry market.
Gold prices are expected to fluctuate between 160 yuan (US$23.36) a gram and 220 yuan this year with an average price forecast of 195 yuan a gram, Huang Yong, a GF Securities Co analyst, said.
