Gold demand drops to 11-year-low in 2020 By: Times News Service Photo used for illustrative purpose only The COVID-19 pandemic, with its far-reaching effects, was the driving factor behind gold consumer demand weakness throughout 2020, leading to a 14 per cent decline in annual demand to 3,759.6 tonnes. Last year was the first sub-4,000 tonnes year since 2009 according to the World Gold Council’s latest Gold Demand Trends report. Global gold demand dropped by 28 per cent y-o-y to 783.4t in Q4, making it the weakest quarter since the midst of the global financial crisis in Q2 2008. Gold jewellery demand in Q4 fell 13 per cent y-o-y to 515.9t, resulting in a full-year total of 1,411.6t, 34 per cent lower than in 2019 and a new annual low for our data series. While demand improved steadily from the severely depleted Q2 total, the coronavirus continued to impact consumer behaviour.