China National Gold Group Joins WGC

Bloomberg reported that China National Gold Group Corp. has become a member of the World Gold Council (WGC). The WGC has 18 members, and China National is the only member from China.
Randall Oliphant, chairman of the WGC, commented:

The rapid expansion of China’s gold mining industry has been astonishing. The country’s growing consumer base combined with easy access to gold is reflected in the remarkable growth in gold demand in the past decade, which is set to continue.

The market news also states:

China’s gold production jumped sevenfold over the past three decades, Oliphant said. The government lifted a ban on trading and opened the Shanghai Gold Exchange in 2002 and the country now vies with India as the biggest buyer. The council has said that China’s bullion consumption will expand by at least 20 percent by the end of 2017 amid rising wealth.

China also has a presence in setting daily bullion prices that are used by central banks to mining companies to value and trade metal. Bank of China Ltd. in June joined the LBMA Gold Price, the benchmark that replaced the century-old London gold fixing.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.