Chinese Platinum Jewelry Fabrication Is Growing Rapidly As Consumers Turn Away From Expensive Gold

(30 May, 2025 - Platinum Guild International)

Chinese platinum jewelry fabrication is showing signs of life after a decade long downturn. In 2024, China’s platinum jewelry reported 1% demand growth. However, with ten new platinum jewelry showrooms opening in Shuibei, China, so far in 2025, forecasts for China’s platinum jewelry fabrication demand have been revised upwards from 5% growth originally to 15% year-on-year growth to 474 koz in 2025f.

After peaking in 2013, the platinum jewelry market in China saw continued demand erosion through 2023. Declining demand was aggravated by the falling platinum price, fewer marriages, wide buyback spreads and improvements in 24 carat gold jewelry design that appealed to China’s quasi-investment consumer landscape. While the exceptional rally in gold prices has eased slightly, the price remains ~15% higher than the average for Q1’25 when Chinese demand for gold jewelry declined by 32% year-on-year (Fig. 1) as the high prices impacted consumer buying. Facing weaker demand and high inventory holding costs, gold jewelry businesses are proactively liquidating high value gold inventory and transitioning into platinum jewelry where margins are typically higher. So far in 2025, around ten new platinum jewelry showrooms have opened in China’s Shuibei region of Shenzhen. This is an effective tripling in the number of platinum orientated showrooms.

Shuibei represents around 90% of China’s wholesale platinum market and is the conduit into jewelry retail channels. Each showroom is said to hold between 100 kg and 500 kg (~3-16 koz) of platinum jewelry inventory. Notably, the speed at which wholesalers have transitioned into platinum has caught some fabricators off guard with Dingyuan having to suspend new orders in late April 2025 as its orderbook exceeded its fabricating

Platinum Guild International (PGI) reported its partner sales grew 50% year-on-year in China during Q1 2025 which is double the pace of total Chinese growth (+26% year-on-year) reported in our latest Platinum Quarterly. We note that if the wholesale demand is sustained by consumer demand, there is upside to our 2025f jewelry forecast of 2.1 Moz (Fig. 7). WPIC has previously highlighted opportunities for gold switching to platinum jewelry. This trend was evident in Q1 data, where ex-China demand growth was driven by switching (Fig. 5). PGI estimates that there is an incremental long-term opportunity of 0.7 - 1.5 Moz for platinum jewelry from switching away from white-gold, underpinned by the US and EU.

Platinum’s attraction as an investment asset arises from:

• WPIC research indicates that the platinum market entered a period of consecutive supply deficits from 2023 and these are expected to fully deplete above ground stocks by 2029f
• Platinum supply remains challenged, both in terms of primary mining and secondary recycling supply
• Elevated lease rates and OTC London backwardation highlight tight market conditions
• Platinum is a critical mineral in the global energy transition underpinning a key role in the hydrogen economy
• The platinum price remains historically undervalued and significantly below the price of gold