Increased demand as investment value. According to the most recent World Gold Council report, demand in volume for the precious metal as an investment rose above that for jewellery and other industries (dental and electronics) between January and March. In the first quarter of 2009, annual consumption of jewellery gold fell by almost a quarter (-24%) to just 339 tonnes, and consumption of whole industry by more than 30% (-31%) to 80.2 tonnes. The demand for gold as an investment rose by +248% to almost 600 tonnes of gold sold. High prices explain this change but also the huge increase in individual jewellery sales, especially in India. The upturn in gold prices also benefited annual production of the mineral which increased by 3% to 560 tonnes. (I.L./transl.rh)