Vietnam’s demand for gold bars and coins fell by 15% year-on-year to 12 tons in the first quarter of 2025, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). The decline is attributed to domestic gold scarcity and high premium prices.

In Southeast Asia, investor demand for gold bars in Singapore surged 35% compared to the same period last year, reaching 2.5 tons - the country’s highest level since 2010.

Investment demand in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand also saw double-digit growth year-on-year.

Across ASEAN countries, jewelry demand declined due to record-high gold prices. In Singapore, gold jewelry demand fell 20% to 1.7 tons.

Fan Shaokai, Head of Asia-Pacific (excluding China) at the WGC, noted that global jewelry demand in Q1 hit its lowest point since the Covid-19 pandemic. He said this was expected given that gold prices broke records 20 times during the quarter.

Fan added that global central banks continued to be net buyers of gold for the 16th consecutive year, accumulating a total of 243.7 tons in the first quarter. Central banks are turning to gold to diversify portfolios, manage risk, hedge against inflation, and protect against geopolitical and market volatility.

However, central bank purchases were down 21% year-on-year. Despite this decline in volume, the value of gold holdings increased due to persistently high gold prices.

Global investment demand - including gold-backed ETFs, bars, and coins - jumped 170% year-on-year to 551.9 tons. Gold ETFs alone purchased 226.5 tons in Q1, a sharp contrast to the 113 tons of net outflows in the same quarter of 2024.

Overall gold demand - including investment, jewelry, central bank purchases, and technology use - remained stable at 1,206 tons, up 1% from the previous year.

Fan emphasized that in the face of ongoing geopolitical tensions and global market fluctuations, gold remains a safe haven asset.

The WGC forecasts that short-term stagflation risks, medium-term recession fears, rising stock-bond correlation, expected increases in the U.S. fiscal deficit, and persistent geopolitical tensions will continue to drive global gold investment demand.

Duy Anh