India's scrap gold supplies to hit all-time high on price surge amid coronavirus - WGC

According to the latest World Gold Council (WGC) report published this Thursday, scrap gold supplies in India are expected to reach a record high in 2020, as the domestic funding stress due to the coronavirus lockdown prompted heavy jewelry selling.

Customers sold-off their jewelry to benefit from the gold-price surge to all-time highs.

Somasundaram PR, the Managing Director of WGC’s Indian operations said: “Record high local prices, coupled with short-term pressure on household finances, could encourage people to sell gold. Definitely it (scrap supplies) will be much higher than last year.

Scrap supplies in India jumped 37% in 2019 from a year ago to a record 119.5 tonnes driven by rising prices, the WGC reported added.

As cited by Reuters, “local gold prices surged 25% in 2019 and have risen another 16% so far in the year.”

It's worth noting that India is the world's second-largest consumer of gold after China.