Some good news for the NY gold cartel...

Regards - VHF

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Beijing's Cai Bai Gold Store Had $1 Billion Revenues

Forbes - Robert Lenzner

October 11, 2011

The crowds surge shoulder to shoulder inside Beijing’s Cai Bai store to buy 5 to 10 gram slivers of gold and jewelery of every size and shape. It’s one dramatic example of the gold craze in China, which is officially and unofficially promoted by the Communist government. It is a sight equivalent to teenager mobbing Abercrombie & Fitch in a pushing mob to get the newest tee shirt.

Some Chinese gold officials believe some 5000 tons more of gold will be amassed in China over the next 5 years. That compares with the US government’s hoard of 8133 tons and the 1200 tons worth $65-70 billion in GLD, the Spyder ETF that’s the vehicle most utilized by American gold investors.

Ever since 2002 when the price of gold began to move from its $200-$250 an ounce base, China has facilitated the purchase of gold as an investment., It was then the PBOC, the People’s Bank of China, established the Shanghai Gold Exchange that became the action arena for 1.5 million accounts of the ICBC Industrial Bank of China which automatically began to execute orders as small as $10-$20 a day or week. Prior to 2002 all gold orders went through the PBOC.

Nobody really knows how much gold is held by China because producers and importers do not typically report their purchases. Then, too, the PBOC reports purchases infrequently over the years. In fact, China makes it a practice of camoflaging its gold purchases by not reporting them so as not to affect prices in the market, according to William Purpura, chairman of the Comex Governing Committee and proprietor of a gold trading operation in New York and Asia.