China's gold consumption soared 41.36 per cent in 2013, industry data shows, with state media reporting the country has probably overtaken India as the world's largest consumer of the precious metal.
Last year, China consumed 1176.4 tonnes of the yellow metal, the China Gold Association said in a statement on Tuesday.
The surge in demand was partly led by frenzied purchases by "middle-aged" "bargain-hunting" Chinese women who bucked the international market trend of falling prices to get cheap deals, the official Xinhua news agency said.
In the first three quarters of 2013, China's demand for gold totalled 779.6 tonnes, compared with India's 714.7 tonnes, according to figures previously released by the World Gold Council.
The British-based WGC usually publishes its full-year Gold Demand Trends report in February.
Demand for jewellery and bullion made up the lion's share of China's consumption last year, rising 42.52 per cent and 56.57 per cent respectively to 716.5 tonnes and 375.7 tonnes, the CGA figures showed.
