Gold demand shone in early 2025 on renewed ETF inflows, report says

Gold demand rose in the first quarter of the year, fueled by a revival of gold exchange-traded fund inflows, according to an industry body report.

Total gold demand for the first three months of 2025 rose 1% on year to 1,206 metric tons, the strongest start to a year since 2016, the World Gold Council said Wednesday in a new report on gold-demand trends.

ETF inflows picked up in the first quarter, totaling 226 tons. A year prior, ETFs saw outflows of 113.0 tons, and inflows of just 18.7 tons in the fourth quarter of 2025. These inflows accelerated across the world, driving a more-than doubling of total investment demand to 552 metric tons.

Already in April, Asian ETF inflows have surpassed their first-quarter total.

“This reflects mounting macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, including U.S.-China trade tensions and sustained gold price strength, which have reinforced gold’s role as a safe-haven asset. Chinese investors, in particular, are increasingly turning to ETFs as a liquid and flexible alternative amid continued weakness in equities,” said Louise Street, senior market analyst at the WGC.

There is still room for further growth, however, with global gold ETF holdings sitting 10% below their 2020 high.

The healthy demand for gold has been driven by trade turmoil, unpredictable U.S. policy announcements, persistent geopolitical tensions and rising concerns around recession. The resulting safe-haven demand helped propel continuous gold future prices to an all-time record high on April 22 of $3,509.90 a troy ounce. New York Mercantile Exchange gold futures are up nearly 26% in the year to date.

Looking ahead, investment demand should continue to gather pace given near-term stagflation risks, medium-term recession risks, elevated stock-bond correlations, U.S. deficit growth and continued geopolitical worries, the WGC said.

Elsewhere, central-bank demand slowed in the first quarter to 244 tons of purchases. While 21% lower on-year, this remains robust and in-line with the quarterly average of the last three years, the report said.

Central banks are strategic, long-term buyers and typically less sensitive to short-term price movements or events. Barring any structural changes, they should continue to be a consistent, healthy source of demand through 2025, even if the pace of purchases fluctuates, Street said.

On the other hand, gold demand for jewelry has sharply fallen on year, driven by higher prices. Weakness was seen in every major region, with global demand falling 21% on year and sharp falls in China and India. Volumes reached their lowest levels since demand was stifled by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

That said, in value terms, consumer spending on gold jewelry rose 9% on year to $35 billion, the WGC said. Value growth was seen in every market bar China, suggesting consumers were prepared to stretch their budgets.

Technology demand, meanwhile, was unchanged on-year at 80 tons, as growth in artificial intelligence-related demand was countered by high prices and declines in the wireless sector, industrial and decorative applications and dentistry demand.

Write to Joseph Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com