Total quarterly gold demand, including over-the-counter investment, in Q1 2025 was 1,206 tonnes, a 1% increase year-on-year, in a record-high price environment, in which gold surpassed US$3,000 an ounce, according to a recent report.

Additionally, the gold exchange-traded fund ( ETF ) revival fuelled a more-than doubling of total investment demand to 552 tonnes, a 170% year-on-year increase and the highest since Q1 2022, finds the Q1 2025 Gold Demand Trends report published by the World Gold Council ( WGC ).

ETF inflows accelerated around the world, totalling 226 tonnes in the first quarter, the WGC notes, as price momentum and tariff policy uncertainty drove investors to gold as a safe haven.

Central banks, the report notes, entered their 16th consecutive year of net buying, buying 244 tonnes of gold in Q1 2025, a slowdown from the previous quarter but comfortably within the quarterly range of the last three years.

Notably, investor appetite for gold in Singapore remains strong, with total bar and coin demand rising 35% year on year to 2.5 tonnes in Q1 2025, marking the strongest quarter on record.

For Association of Southeast Asian Nations markets, in Q1 2025, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand experienced sustained growth in gold investment demand, the report details, with double-digit year-on-year increases, while Vietnam saw a decline.

Technology demand of 80 tonnes was unchanged year on year. Ongoing AI adoption drove continued growth in the electronics sector, the report highlights, but uncertainty over tariffs makes for a challenging environment for the remainder of the year.

Bar and coin demand remained elevated at 325 tonnes – 15% above the five-year quarterly average. China drove much of this increase, posting its second-highest quarter of retail investment.

And gold jewellery demand fell sharply in the record price environment, the WGC points out, with volumes reaching their lowest since demand was halted by the Covid outbreak in 2020. In value terms, consumer spending on gold jewellery grew 9% year on year to US$35 billion.

“Amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions and global market volatility, gold – a traditional safe haven asset – continues to perform strongly, with global gold demand reaching its highest first-quarter level since Q1 2016,” shares Shaokai Fan, the WGC’s head of Asia-Pacific ( ex-China ) and global head of central banks. “Although global central banks gold purchases dipped quarter on quarter, they remained well above the five-year quarterly average of 196 tonnes.”

Louise Street, the WGC’s  senior markets analyst, adds: “It’s been a bumpy start to the year for global markets as trade turmoil, unpredictable US policy announcements, sustained geopolitical tensions and a return of recessionary fears have created a highly uncertain environment for investors.”