As I walked down the high street looking at over-priced jewelry and feeling social pressure to buy such over-priced jewelry for gifts, I wondered how much gold is used for jewelry.
Then I wondered how much gold is mined annually versus current stock and found:
In contrast to other commodities such as oil, copper or agricultural products, there is an enormous discrepancy between annual production (= flow ) and the total available stock of gold.
In other words, gold has a high stock-to-flow ratio (SFR). The high stock-to-flow ratio is the most important characteristic of gold (and silver). The total gold ever mined amounts to almost 213,000 tons.
Annual production in 2023 was just over 3,650 tons. Dividing the two amounts gives a stock-to-flow ratio of 58.4, which means that the current annual production must be maintained for more than 58 years to double the current gold stock.
| Category | Total Reserves (tons) | % Share of Total Reserves (tons) |
|---|---|---|
| Jewelry | 96,500 | 45% |
| Private Holdings | 47,500 | 22% |
| Central Bank Holdings | 36,700 | 17% |
| Others | 32,000 | 15% |
| Total | 212,600 | 100% |
| Estimated Mining Production (Flow) | 3,600 | 1.7% of Total Stock |
Source: World Gold Council