In late May, China's gold consumption market experienced a significant turning point. The previously surging wave of gold buying has gradually cooled, with market sentiment notably receding. Gold stores that were once crowded with queues of eager buyers have become quiet, as the nationwide frenzy to stockpile gold has completely subsided.
Recent visits to several high-end gold retailers and brand stores in Beijing's core commercial districts revealed a sharp decline in offline gold consumption following the recent price surge and subsequent correction. Consumer attitudes have shifted from blind trend-following to cautious observation.
According to the latest "Investor Sentiment Survey Report" from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, the willingness of individuals to increase gold holdings has continued to decline due to the price correction. Combined with changes in the global macroeconomic environment and the temporary ineffectiveness of traditional safe-haven logic, both gold consumption and investment mentalities have fully returned to rationality.
**Store Queues Become a Thing of the Past** For a long time, Laopu Gold's physical stores have been a key barometer for China's gold consumption and investment market, serving as a "weather vane" for observing gold consumption trends.
In the past, whenever global geopolitical tensions escalated or capital market volatility increased, driving up safe-haven demand, long queues would form outside stores across the country. Many consumers, motivated by value preservation and collection needs, would rush to buy gold bars and jewelry. Some even waited overnight to make purchases, while scalpers resold queue numbers for profit. Market fervor remained exceptionally high.
At that time, the store queues were not only a direct reflection of booming gold consumption but also highlighted the widespread public sentiment of chasing gold as a "sure-win asset." They served as an important window into public consumption willingness and asset allocation preferences.
However, with the gold price correction, the market trend has quietly reversed.
Recent visits to multiple Laopu Gold stores in Beijing found that the previously bustling scenes have completely disappeared.
In the Wangfujing shopping district, the entrances of four adjacent Laopu Gold stores were quiet, with no queues or waiting customers. The number of customers actively entering to shop was minimal. Looking through the windows, store traffic was sparse and scattered. Sales staff were unhurried in their接待, a stark contrast to the previous scenes of crowded customers and overwhelmed staff.
Observations over nearly an hour revealed that visiting customers fell into two main categories: one group consisted of tourists and passersby casually browsing and admiring designs, who would leave after brief price inquiries or trying items on; the other group had clear purchase intentions but made decisions with exceptional caution. They repeatedly compared styles, calculated total costs, and carefully inquired about store points and promotional activities, making decisions only after meticulous consideration. Impulse buying has decreased significantly.
Discussing changes in store traffic and sales, a salesperson at a Wangfujing store noted that after the brand completed a new round of price increases in mid-February, with overall price hikes of 20% to 30% for ancient-method gold jewelry and gem-inlaid gold products, queueing situations subsequently diminished.
"Now there's basically no situation of queuing to rush purchases. Store traffic is steady, and people have more time to look at styles and select new items. The phenomenon of blindly following trends to stockpile has become rare. Although international gold prices have recently fallen, the store has not received notice of a retail price reduction. Products are still sold at fixed prices," the salesperson stated.
Meanwhile, in various代购groups, it was observed that as gold prices declined,代购s who had previously stockpiled large quantities began集中清仓, promoting sales with gimmicks like "discount sales before the price hike." Many previously hard-to-find popular styles are now available, including classic pendants like the Filigree Climbing Gourd and the Vajra Cross Pendant.
For example, a five-strand Vajra Cross Pendant weighing 24.29 grams has a专柜price tag of 49,030 yuan.代购s directly offer a 22% discount, bringing the actual purchase price down to 38,020 yuan.
代购practitioner Jiji explained that when the gold market was hot, popular gold jewelry was highly sought-after.同行within the circle queued to stockpile, hoping to profit from further price increases. Unexpectedly, gold prices turned downward, stores raised prices, and the market cooled instantly, leaving them unable to sell their inventory.
"Gold items are valuable. Holding a large inventory ties up capital, and with every dip in the gold price, the inventory depreciates. After weighing the options, we have to forgo profits and rely on discounts to quickly clear stock and recover本金. Items can be shipped via SF Express or exchanged in person at the mall entrance. They can also be verified for weight and purchase records at Laopu专柜," Jiji said.
Additionally, it was noted that her代购group's name has also been changed. The community originally focused on Laopu Gold代购has been renamed to focus on comprehensive mall discount services, no longer concentrating on gold代购, indicating a clear shift in business focus.
**Gold's Safe-Haven Logic Falters** The fading speculative enthusiasm among retail investors and the accelerated capital outflow all reflect a shift in public preference for gold consumption and allocation.
Since 2025, international gold prices have experienced an epic surge. According to World Bank data, the gold price was around $2,710 per ounce in January 2025. It rose continuously, soaring to $5,020 per ounce by February 2026. However, surprisingly, after the outbreak of the US-Iran-Israel conflict in late February 2026, gold, as a traditional safe-haven asset, did not continue its rise but instead turned downward, falling to $4,721 per ounce by April.
The latest "Investor Sentiment Survey Report" from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business points out that behind the phenomenon of "gold's失灵" lies a阶段性切换in market safe-haven logic.
Liu Jin, Professor of Accounting and Finance at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, analyzed that soaring energy prices have intensified inflationary pressures. The market originally expected the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in 2026. However, facing rebounding inflation, the Fed was forced to maintain a "higher for longer" high-interest-rate policy. The market has even begun reassessing the possibility of rate hikes.
"As a non-yielding asset, when U.S. Treasury yields rise significantly due to high-interest-rate expectations, capital flows toward the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasuries that can generate higher interest, leading to the selling of gold. Data supports this inference. Between January 2025 and January 2026, due to rising expectations of rate cuts, the yield on the 1-year U.S. Treasury note fell from 4.2% to 3.5%. However, by April 2026, with inflation reigniting, this yield quickly rebounded to 3.7%. The U.S. Dollar Index followed an identical先抑后扬curve," Liu Jin further stated. From January 2025 to January 2026, the U.S. dollar's effective exchange rate indices against developed economies and emerging economies fell sharply by 9.7% and 7%, respectively. By April 2026, compared to the January low, these indices had risen by 1% and 0.3%, respectively.
Regarding market sentiment, Liu Jin pointed out that the net proportion of investors willing to increase gold investment dropped to 12.6%, down 1.6 percentage points from the previous period.
This indicates that ordinary investors have shed their mentality of blindly chasing rallies. They no longer view gold as a "safe haven where buying blindly guarantees profit." A wait-and-see sentiment clearly prevails.
"The sustained surge in gold prices前期accumulated substantial profit-taking positions. Profit-taking at high levels was one of the important drivers of this round's price correction. Meanwhile, the暴涨in oil prices raised profit expectations for energy-related investments like oil and gas, attracting capital to flow out of gold and into these assets with higher short-term returns, further exacerbating the decline in gold prices," Liu Jin analyzed.
According to statistics from the World Gold Council, in March 2026, within total gold demand, demand for gold bars and金币, representing physical investment demand, increased by 10.7% month-on-month and 42% year-on-year. Demand from central banks and official institutions, representing reserve demand, increased by 17.3% month-on-month and 2.8% year-on-year.
In contrast, the category with the largest decline was demand for gold ETFs and similar products, which fell by 64.6% month-on-month and 73% year-on-year. Additionally, affected by high gold prices, jewelry fabrication demand also showed a significant decline, falling by 23.5% month-on-month and 22.9% year-on-year.
"The simultaneous substantial growth in physical investment and central bank gold purchases reflects deep-seated concerns among market participants about the future world situation and the U.S. dollar credit system. The evolution of the world situation has clearly profoundly affected investors' risk perception," Liu Jin stated.
In the view of Gao Chengyuan, Dean of the Tiaoyuan Influence Research Institute, the阶段性退潮of the nationwide gold stockpiling frenzy and the持续疲软of gold jewelry consumption due to high prices, leading to平淡store traffic, do not mean the gold market has returned to silence. Rather, it indicates an investment structure shift from "retail speculation-driven" to "institutional allocation-led."
"The连续七个月净流入of gold ETFs and the unchanged pace of central bank purchases indicate the market is moving from emotional炒作toward rational allocation," Gao Chengyuan predicted. In the future, the gold market is likely to present a常态化格局of "investment demand providing a floor, speculative heat cooling down," with a rising price中枢but declining volatility, returning to its essential attribute as a portfolio diversification tool.
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