US Gold Jewellery – An Evolving Industry

The US gold jewellery industry is both sizeable and globally significant. But it faces a range of challenges. MARK HANNA, chief marketing officer at Berkshire Hathaway company Richline Group, the leading jewellery manufacturer in the US, believes the industry can flourish, if it adopts certain key initiatives.

- Mark Hanna

The US gold jewellery market is large and globally significant. The third largest market in the world, it consumed 118 tonnes of gold in 2016, a figure that has been broadly steady over the past seven years.

That gold was worth around $5 billion last year. But the market involves substantially more than the pure fine gold content of jewellery. High quality design, marketing and branding have a material impact on gold jewellery’s contribution to the US economy. In 2013, for example, the US Chamber of Commerce estimated that fine gold jewellery sales stood at $13.4 billion. More up-to-date data is tricky to come by, but I estimate it may have increased to $14.6 billion in 2016.

The fashion-conscious US jewellery buyer is an important target customer for many fabricators around the world, with imported gold jewellery accounting for around two-thirds of US gold jewellery sales. And the modest growth in demand over recent years has supported manufacturers around the world: gold jewellery exports to the US, measured in fine gold content, grew over 30% from 2013 to 2016.

But the US gold jewellery market used to be a lot bigger. Demand peaked at 389 tonnes in 2001 and, in value terms,consumption has barely changed since 1995, with price increases just about offsetting volume declines. Considering the tremendous growth in US retail spending over the same period, gold jewellery has been a serious under performer.

Consumers feel the pinch

Income growth plays an important role in gold demand. In the US, gold jewellery demand was steady while the economy was strong, unemployment was low and incomes grew swiftly. From 1995-2006 the US economy grew at an average rate of 3.3%, unemployment floated around its long run average of 5%, and consumer confidence was buoyant. Gold jewellery demand was robust, averaging around 345 tonnes a year.