24 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined 9h \ on: Visualizing Gold Consumption vs. Domestic Supply charts_and_numbers
I think "consumption" is slightly misleading, as it gives the impression that the gold ceases to exist, when in reality gold is almost endlessly recycled. There's not necessarily a better single term, but for India and some others "accumulation" is probably more accurate.
Yeah, I get that the term can be a bit misleading. The article about India says they use a 'ton' of gold for jewelry. I don't know the exact numbers, but electronics use gold too. So, if we take out those uses, what's left is probably for store of value (CB's).
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My understanding is that Indian, and other Southeast Asian, gold jewelry is functionally used as a store of value. They often melt some down when they need to dip into their savings and they pass it down to later generations to give them a financial cushion.
Electronics and other industrial uses are what I would think of as true consumption, because it can be uneconomical to recover the gold.
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Spot on! Jewelry is definitely a good way to store value. And the whole gold-in-food thing? That's just plain weird consumption!
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Who's putting gold in their food? Based on an episode of House MD, I believe that is severely poisonous.
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This isn't the first time I've seen something like this.
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