World Gold Council: Q1 global gold demand reaches the highest level for a first quarter since 2016.

On April 30, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Wednesday that global gold demand (including over-the-counter transactions) in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 1% year-on-year to 1,206 metric tons, the highest first-quarter level since 2016. A sharp rebound in gold-backed ETF inflows drove total investment demand to 552t, up 170% y-o-y, the highest since Q1 2022. Bar and coin demand remained high at 325t in Q1, 15% above the five-year quarterly average. Global gold jewellery demand, the main category of physical demand, fell 21% to 380.3t, the lowest since the pandemic began in 2020. Central bank purchases, another major source of gold demand, fell 21% to 243.7t in Q1.