Weddings go platinum : Cities take to platinum
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Written by: kafeier
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Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2009 |
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Pan Jun's parents hardly had any gold when they got married in 1982, but that wasn't going to happen for the wedding of their only child. The Pans bought their daughter-in-law four pieces of gold jewelry when their son got married earlier this year.
Pan, a primary school teacher in a rural area of Central China's Hunan Province, was born in the 1980s, during the third birth peak of the country, when men and women born in the first (1949–57) and the second (1962–early 70s) baby booms reached child-bearing age.
Around 143 million babies born during the 80s are now at marrying age, and they are going all out on their weddings in ways their parents would never have imagined.
"It goes without saying everywhere around the country that the man's family ought to buy the bride jewelry like rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets," said Zhang Jing, a consultant with a Beijing-based international education service, who registered his marriage in August and will hold a wedding ceremony next year.
New marriages numbered around 11 million last year, up 10.8 percent from 2007, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the administration in charge of marriage registration.
Part of the reason for the recent spike is Chinese culture's emphasis on lucky numbers. Since both eight and nine are considered auspicious, couples have been rushing to get married in 2008 and 2009. The Olympics also helped stoke the wedding fever last year as many Chinese sought to bask in their nation's accomplishments on the world stage.
And the wedding craze has been a boon for the jewelry industry.
Domestic platinum sales hit a record high of 54.4 tons this year, up 80 percent over 2008, and accounting for about a third of global sales, said a report released earlier this month by Johnson Matthey, the world's No.1 platinum refiner.
China's demand for gold jewelry is expected to reach 400 tons this year, up from 326.7 tons last year, according to the World Gold Commission.
China passed Turkey and the US in 2007 to become the world's No.2 gold consumer after India.
Cities take to platinum
A grey-haired woman combs through hundreds of display cases at Caishikou, one of Beijing's biggest jewelry stores. "I'd never buy this for myself," she says. "But my daughter likes platinum. All the young seem to like it better than gold."
The woman was wearing two rings and earrings, all made of gold.
"Gold has gone out of fashion," said Zhang the consultant. "Only old people and the nouveau riche still buy it," he said, adding he already purchased a pair of platinum wedding rings.
And platinum matches better than gold with white wedding gowns, said a sales assistant at a department store, adding that might have accounted for the recent increase in demand.
Sales of platinum are expected to grow by 60 percent this year, with the wedding market accounting for one fourth of the increase. The figure for last year was only 9 percent, even as China became the world's leading consumer of platinum, accounting for more than half of the global market, according to Platinum Guild International.
Caishikou saw its sales of platinum jewelry reach 400 million yuan ($58.6 million) in the first three quarters of the year, equal to that of the whole year in 2008. It is predicted that the annual sales for the bustling market will reach 500 million yuan ($73.2 million).
Platinum has also made inroads beyond the burgeoning major cities into smaller markets.
Chen Wei, a self-employed photographer in rural Hunan, bought a platinum ring and necklace for his fiancée rather than a gold one.
"Platinum goes well with the white wedding gown and the gold is out of date," said Chen, echoing the sentiments of Zhang and the jewerly saleswoman.
But Chen appears to be unusual for a rural resident, as statistics show gold still reigns outside the urban centers.
As city dwellers turn to platinum, gold sellers are moving to tap into the growing spending power of the country's 900 million rural residents. And they might be onto something.
The majority of the 326.7 tons of gold sales last year went to the rural markets, said Chen Zhijun, the China area manager of the World Gold Commission.
The sales of precious metal jewelry will maintain growth, as rural incomes rise and the ongoing marriage boom continues, said a report by Beijing-based China International Capital Cooperation.
And according to newly-wed Pan Jun, rural residents still have an appetite for gold.
"I'm going to stick with gold," said the Hunan teacher. "Gold has been the standard of wealth for thousands of years. Platinum is just trendy."
Source: Weddings go platinum : Cities take to platinum
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