BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China’s gold consumption reached 541.22 metric tons (tonnes) in the first half of this year, up 0.31 percent year on year, new data showed.
Consumption of gold jewelry surged 6.37 percent to 351.84 tonnes, while that for gold bars and gold coins amounted to 133.61 tonnes and 4.1 tonnes respectively, down 15.65 percent and 18 percent year on year, according to the China Gold Association.
The association attributed the substantial growth in the consumption of gold jewelry to the initial success caused by the reform of the industry and gold jewelry sellers’ rapid response to the real demand through innovated marketing based on the "Internet Plus" strategy.
China’s gold output amounted to 190.279 tonnes in the January-June period, down 7.87 percent year on year.(Edited by Yang Yifan, yangyifan@xinhua.org)