World Gold Council (WGC)

The World Gold Council (WGC) is the market development organization for the gold industry, based in London. It is a non-profit association of the world's leading gold producers, set up to provide industry leadership and stimulate the demand for gold. For example, the WGC is the creator of the first gold ETF.

The WGC is also the global authority on gold, and they offer comprehensive analyses of the industry. The most famous publications are quarterly reports on the gold market and gold demand trends analyzed by both sector and geographical location. Although interesting, investors should take them with a pinch of salt for two reasons. First, the WGC is a lobbying organization advocating the use of gold, therefore its reports may be bullishly biased. Second, the WGC incorrectly analyzes gold similarly to other commodities, using the consumption model, which focuses on the balance between annual demand and supply. However, the annual gold demand and supply are only a tiny fraction of gold that is traded in a year. Unlike most other commodities, saving and disposal plays a larger role in affecting its price than consumption and annual mining production.

We encourage you to learn more about gold – not only how its consumption is promoted by the WGC, but also how to successfully use gold as an investment and how to profitably trade it. A great way to start is to sign up for our gold newsletter today. It's free and if you don't like it, you can easily unsubscribe.