American consumers cut gold jewellery purchases sharply in the first quarter of 2026, as record-high prices collided with import tariffs to produce the steepest year-on-year demand decline among major markets globally.
US gold jewellery consumption fell 44% year-on-year to 13.1 tonnes — making the United States one of the only markets tracked by the World Gold Council to register a drop in both volume and value.
Across most markets, jewellery volumes fell, but total spend rose — consumers bought smaller, lighter pieces, but paid more for them. The LBMA gold price averaged US$4,873 per ounce in Q1, a quarterly record, after hitting an all-time high of US$5,405 per ounce in January.
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Tariffs on top of that price created a compounding cost burden on jewellery imports that squeezed both buyer appetite and retailer margins. Gold jewellery imports fell sharply as customers reduced purchase frequency and shifted to lighter-weight pieces.
World gold jewellery consumption fell 23% year-on-year to 299.7 tonnes in Q1 — the lowest since Q2 2020 and only the second time in the WGC’s data series that global demand has dipped below 300 tonnes.
India recorded a 19% year-on-year volume decline. China’s jewellery demand dropped 32%, compounded by a Q4 2025 VAT reform that pushed investment-motivated buyers toward bars and coins. The Middle East posted universal double-digit declines, with the UAE falling 40% as regional conflict brought demand in some markets close to a standstill.
The value of global jewellery consumption still rose 31% year-on-year to US$47 billion — a record first quarter. Consumers did not abandon gold; they bought less of it.
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Investment demand — bars, coins, and ETFs — now far exceeds fabrication demand, reversing the pattern of most of the past two decades. The WGC does not expect conditions for jewellery to improve significantly: persistent high prices, US tariff pressures, China’s VAT policy, and potential global economic fallout from the Middle East conflict will continue to weigh on volumes through 2026.
Jewellery spending is projected to stay resilient as consumers adjust to the higher price environment. The US, however, remains an outlier. In most markets, shifting to lighter or lower-carat pieces keeps overall spend growing despite volume losses. American consumers, absorbing both the gold price surge and tariff-driven cost pass-throughs, had no such buffer.
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