World's top 10 buyers & producers of gold

The average global demand for gold in the past 10 years has been mainly for jewellery at 76 per cent, followed by industrial applications of 14 per cent and 10 per cent for investors. The available gold supply is from new mining, reclaimed scrap, official or new bank sales and gold loans made from official reserves.

there are five international gold trading centres: New York, London, Zurich, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

But who are the world's largest buyers and producers of gold? Click here to find out!

The craze for the yellow metal in India is phenomenal. It has traditionally been the world's largest consumer of gold. India buys an average of 800 tonnes of gold every year and its total jewellery market is worth more than $20 billion.

However, in recent times the demand for gold in India has waned slightly, with the price of the precious metal zooming to record highs. Yet, the country remains the largest buyer of gold, at 770 tonnes in 2007.

Source: GFMS (Gold Field Mineral Services)

Beijing has gold holdings of 1,054 tons, up from 600 tons in 2002, and still wants to buy more gold.

China produced 280.5 tons of gold in 2007, making it the world's number one producer of the precious metal.

China is also the world's second largest buyer of gold. It bought 328 tons of gold in 2007.

Source: GFMS (Gold Field Mineral Services)

The United States of America is the world's third highest buyer of gold. In 2007, it purchased 275 tons of the yellow metal.

However, the US is also the world's fourth largest producer of gold. In 2007, it produced 240 tons of gold.

Source: GFMS (Gold Field Mineral Services)

Turkey is the world's fourth largest buyer of gold. In 2007, it bought 250 tons of the precious metal.

Source: GFMS (Gold Field Mineral Services)