SHANGHAI, April 29 Reuters Chinas 2021 gold demand will see annual growth and will revert to prepandemic levels if there are no dramatic changes to the global economic and geopolitical situation, a World Gold Council WGC official said on Thursday.

For China we had better first quarter growth even compared to 2019 … If things are stable, we are sure China can stay in such a positive growth, said Wang Lixin, WGC managing director in China, adding that the jewellery and investment segments would drive Chinas gold demand.

Chinese consumers are more confident today than even two years ago, before the pandemic. There was uncertainty over the trade war impact then.

China, the worlds biggest gold consumer, saw consumer demand in the first quarter of 2021 rise to 286.4 tonnes from the previous quarter, the WGC said, a stark contrast from the trend of global gold demand which sank to a 13year low.

The booming jewellery demand was underpinned by three main drivers Improving economic conditions, lower gold prices and sales spree related to holidays. At 191.1 tonnes, first quarter jewellery demand marked the highest first quarterly level since 2015, said Wang, explaining that jewellery makes up over half of Chinas gold demand.

Chinas 2020 gold consumption and imports plunged due to the coronavirus outbreak.

But its appetite for the precious metal recovered in line with an economic rebound since the second half of last year. Chinas March net gold imports via Hong Kong…