China mining reported that the Bombay Bullion Association, the apex body of India's leading bullion traders is yet to officially come out with the 2009 gold imports figures. But provisional statistics with BBA said that gold imports by India have halved in 2009 compared to the year 2008.
Mr Nuresh Hundia president of BBA said that high gold price has been the main culprit for the big fall in gold imports. He added that "Gold price in India has been at a record breaking INR 18,000 per ten grams. Demand for gold has come down sharply thanks to the high gold price, resulting in the lower import of the yellow metal."
In 2009, China overtook India as the biggest consumer of gold, a position that India had held for several years. Since many years India has been ruling the world as the top consumer of the yellow metal but this year and increased surge in demand from China and a fall in gold jewellery sales in India due to high prices have caused India losing the top slot.
China's rapidly growing economy and investment demand could see it add gold to the long list of commodities where it is the world's largest buyer.
Mr Mark Robinson analyst of Dubai based bullion said that "Earlier, India used to import around 600 tonnes to 800 tonnes of gold every year. But it has fallen to 200 tonnes that United Arab Emirates may have overtaken India in gold imports in 2009."
Meanwhile, gold traders in India were engaged in bargain hunting as a firm rupee made the dollar quoted gold cheaper and prices were below the keenly watched INR 17,000 mark.
Source : China mining