High rates of economic growth in India and China continue to fuel strong demand for gold.
Consumers seem to have adjusted to prices about the $600 level and continue to make jewelery and gold “balls” purchases, while investment funds are more cautious at current price levels.
The following report is from the World Gold Council website.
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Gold Supply and Demand – Q1 and Year 2007
The “Year of the Golden Pig†effect had a strong impact in China, providing a further boost to already robust growth as consumers flocked to buy gold jewellery and commemorative “lucky ballsâ€, particularly around Chinese New Year. Consumer demand in Q1 was 31% higher in tonnage terms than a year earlier.
Global demand for gold reached $17.4bn in Q1 2007, more than double the level of four years earlier and 22% higher, in dollar terms, than in the first quarter of 2006. In tonnage terms total demand was 4% higher than Q1 2006. Jewellery demand was 17% higher in tonnage terms than the weak Q1 2006 and 38% higher in dollar terms. However, while net retail investment demand was also strong, slower growth in exchange traded funds compared to Q1 2006 resulted in a 26% year-on-year fall in tonnage terms for identifiable investment in total and a 13% fall in dollar terms.
The US Government Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases monthly statistics about the importation of crude oil into the United States.
The statistics make for some interesting reading. I bet most folks in the US don’t realize how important Canada and Mexico are to our oil importation needs with Saudi Arabia as a strong number three.
Even with all of the troubles in Iraq it is in the number six position. That may help to explain why George W Bush, oil man that he is, has such a strong interest in spreading freedom and democracy to that embattled nation.
Information taken from the EIA website follows:
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Top 15 Countries
April 2007 Import Highlights: Released on June 22, 2007
Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in April 2007 has been released and it shows that three countries have each exported more than 1.40 million barrels per day to the United States.
Including those countries, a total of four countries exported over 1.00 million barrels per day of crude oil to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 68 percent of United States crude oil imports in April while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 88 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports.
The top sources of US crude oil imports for April were
Canada (1.909 million barrels per day),
Mexico (1.460 million barrels per day),
Saudi Arabia (1.458 million barrels per day),
Venezuela (1.182 million barrels per day),
and Nigeria (0.891 million barrels per day).
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