Lunar New Year Jewellery Sales — The World's Largest Annual Gold Demand Window
Lunar New Year Jewellery Sales — The World's Largest Annual Gold Demand Window
How the Spring Festival drives Greater China's single biggest jewellery shopping period
Lunar New Year — known in mainland China as the Spring Festival, in Korea as Seollal, and in Vietnam as Tết — is the largest single jewellery shopping period in the global calendar. Falling between late January and mid-February depending on the lunar cycle, the festival concentrates a substantial share of annual Chinese gold-jewellery demand into a six-to-eight-week window of gifting, weddings, and household purchases. The World Gold Council's annual demand reports consistently identify Lunar New Year as the largest seasonal driver of Chinese gold jewellery consumption, which is itself the largest national market for gold jewellery globally.
Cultural roots of the demand
Gold occupies a position in Chinese household culture that has no precise Western equivalent. It is simultaneously gift, ornament, store of value, and totem of prosperity for the year ahead. Lunar New Year crystallises all four roles: parents and grandparents give gold to children and grandchildren, employers may give gold to staff in lieu of cash bonuses, and households buy gold as a symbolic act of welcoming wealth into the new year.
The zodiac animal of the incoming lunar year is a particular focus. Retailers including Chow Tai Fook, Luk Fook, and Chow Sang Sang produce limited-edition collections themed around the year's animal — pendants, bracelet charms, and small figurines in 24-carat gold are typical formats. These pieces are bought as gifts for the year's zodiac celebrants and as collector items by buyers who acquire one each year.
Wedding-related gold purchases also concentrate around the festival period. The Chinese wedding gold tradition, which sees the groom's family present a complete set of gold jewellery — typically a dragon-and-phoenix bracelet pair, necklace, ring, and earrings — to the bride, frequently times its purchase to the run-up to a wedding scheduled in the auspicious early months of the lunar year.
Scale and economic weight
The World Gold Council estimates Chinese gold jewellery demand at several hundred tonnes annually, with the Lunar New Year window accounting for a disproportionate share of that total. Hong Kong-listed jewellery retailers Chow Tai Fook and Luk Fook regularly report same-store sales growth figures specific to the festival period in their interim reports. A strong Lunar New Year can lift a fiscal half-year, while a weak one can push the cohort into year-on-year revenue declines.
Beyond mainland China and Hong Kong, the festival drives meaningful jewellery demand in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora communities of North America, Australia, and Europe. Retailers in these markets adjust inventory, staffing, and marketing for the period much as Western retailers do for the November–December holiday window.
Product mix and pricing dynamics
The festival's product mix is dominated by 24-carat chuk kam gold, which trades at narrow premiums to spot gold and is purchased on a per-gram basis using transparent pricing tied to the day's gold fix. This contrasts sharply with the markup-driven pricing model of branded Western fine jewellery and is the structural reason Chinese jewellery retailers operate on much thinner gross margins than European houses.
Diamond and gem-set jewellery participates in festival demand at a lower volume but higher margin. The festival is one of the strongest periods for engagement-ring sales in the Chinese market, with bookings frequently coinciding with wedding planning conversations during family gatherings.
Pricing dynamics within the period are influenced by the gold price in the weeks leading up to the festival. A rising gold price ahead of Lunar New Year typically pulls forward demand, while a falling price can defer purchases as buyers wait for further softening. Retailers manage inventory accordingly, with replenishment cycles compressed in the immediate pre-festival weeks.
Operational implications for the trade
The festival's concentration of demand has knock-on effects through the global supply chain. Chinese retailers ramp inventory in November and December, drawing on bullion and finished-jewellery imports through Hong Kong and Shanghai. Diamond cutters in Surat receive orders timed to land in Hong Kong and mainland China several weeks before the festival. Coloured-stone dealers report similar pre-festival ordering rhythms, particularly for ruby, jade, and pink gem material associated with prosperity symbolism.
Post-festival, the trade typically experiences a quiet stretch before the spring wedding-season demand begins to build in March and April. The annual rhythm of mainland Chinese jewellery demand is more pronounced than in Western markets, which see relatively flatter monthly variation outside the November–December window.
Recent trends
The 2020–2022 COVID-19 period disrupted normal Lunar New Year demand patterns, with mainland mobility restrictions limiting both travel-related Hong Kong purchases and in-person shopping at festival peaks. Recovery from 2023 onward has been uneven, with the World Gold Council reporting that 2024 Lunar New Year demand was supported by gold's safe-haven appeal amid economic uncertainty and softer property-market sentiment in mainland China. The structural role of gold in Chinese household culture has, however, proved durable across cycles.
Online and livestream selling has emerged as a meaningful component of festival jewellery purchases, particularly for younger buyers. Chinese jewellery retailers have invested heavily in livestream studios on platforms including Taobao Live, Douyin, and Kuaishou, with senior management occasionally appearing on camera during the festival window.