China’s gold jewelry market is not shrinking but stratifying

Laopu Gold, the Chinese heritage jeweler, recently made headlines with an estimated net profit of up to 3.8 billion RMB ($552.1 million) for Q1 2026, surpassing 70% of its total profit for 2025. This preliminary projection follows the release of its 2025 annual results, which showed revenue surging 221% to 27.3 billion RMB ($3.9 billion) and adjusted net profit up 235% to 5 billion RMB ($726 million). The triple-digit growth has beaten market expectations at a time when the luxury sector is just entering a period of recalibration following years of struggle. According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, Laopu ranked second in luxury revenue in China in 2025, sandwiched between global giants LVMH and Hermès, making it the only Chinese brand among the top five. Laopu’s clientele is also increasingly overlapping with that of the top five luxury titans — Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Cartier, Bulgari, and Tiffany & Co. — rising from 77.3% in July 2025 to 82.4% in March 2026. These figures have placed this young brand, only 17 years on the market, in a premium position that blurs the lines between traditional gold jewelry and luxury jewelry. Its evolution from a homegrown gold crafter into a global luxury heavyweight has made it one of the most talked-about names in the market. Meanwhile, Chow Sang Sang, another heritage gold jeweler with more than 80 years of history, reported a 113% rise in net profit for 2025 to HK$1.7 billion ($220 million), driven by the gold rally and increased sales of higher-margin gold jewelry products. CHJ Industry, a similarly positioned brand with a Gen Z focus, posted a 43% rise in 2025 revenue to 9.3 billion RMB ($1.35 billion) with a net profit jump of 156%. These success stories stand out amid China’s shrinking gold jewelry demand, which slumped 31% last year, and highlight the shift toward higher-end, investment-driven demand. “Gold won’t betray you” This comment came from a Xiaohongshu (RedNote) user under a post discussing the growing obsession with Laopu products. Such consumers are among the millions of Chinese turning to value-preservation assets, helping to drive up demand for gold. According to the World Gold Council, China’s gold consumption increased 6% year-on-year in 2025, reaching 1,003 tons. By category, gold jewelry purchases fell 25% to 360 tons, while sales of gold bars and coins rose 28% to 432 tons, accounting for nearly one-third of the global total. The China Gold Association, whose statistics differ slightly due to methodology, noted that 2025 marked the first time in years that investment-driven gold demand surpassed demand for adornment. Slowing economic growth, geopolitical turbulence, and rising protectionism have further eroded consumer confidence while pushing up gold prices, reinforcing its appeal as a safe-haven asset. The price run-up is both a driver and a result of the overall shift in demand. Gold set 53 new record highs in 2025 and ended the year up 65% — its strongest annual gain since 1979. Chinese consumers are increasingly turning to gold bars and coins as weak confidence in the future — driven by high unemployment, low bank deposit rates, and broader uncertainty — weighs on spending. Meanwhile, wealthy individuals are buying gold in various forms as a portfolio diversifier alongside underperforming properties and volatile stocks. High jewelry emerges as luxury’s bright spot Despite the slump in gold jewelry volume, which fell to its lowest since 2009, spending still rose 8% to 28 billion RMB ($4 billion) in 2025. This suggests that consumers opted for higher-ticket gold jewelry, in addition to benefiting from the price rally. This “volume down, value resilient” dynamic points to an underlying structural shift: the gold jewelry market is not so much shrinking as it is stratifying. This resilience in spending and shift toward higher-ticket items mirror trends in the broader luxury jewelry market. A January report from Bain & Co. reveals that China’s jewelry spending narrowed to 0%-5% in 2025, a significant improvement from the 15%-20% drop in 2024. Richemont, owner of Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, reported that sales returned to growth in China in the quarter ended December 31, 2025, offering a brighter outlook for the struggling luxury sector. Van Cleef & Arpels raised prices on its core collections, including Alhambra, last April, followed by Cartier on select collections. Luca de Meo, CEO of Kering, pointed out at the group’s annual earnings presentation in February that custom-made and high jewelry are “a very big hanging fruit.” In March, the French luxury conglomerate announced the creation of Kering Jewelry, a new division to accelerate growth in its jewelry business and position it as a key growth area amid underperformance in its fashion and leather goods segment. Chinese brands raise prices as market stratifies High-end jewelry is increasingly being treated as an investment asset, with pieces incorporating 24-karat gold seen as better at preserving value. This has given maisons enough room to push through single- to double-digit price increases without losing appeal. Laopu raised prices by 20%-30% earlier this year after three rounds of increases in 2025 that pushed some products up by more than 50%. Jemper Jewelry, another heritage brand, raised the price of its 50-gram bracelets by 46%, from 97,530 RMB ($14,170) to 143,080 RMB ($20,788). Borland and Linchao, known alongside Laopu and Jemper as the “four sisters” of heritage gold, also adopt fixed pricing detached from daily gold price fluctuations. After recent price adjustments, their products now sell for over 2,000 RMB ($290) per gram, placing them squarely in the luxury gold jewelry tier. Other jewelry houses have been moving in the same direction. Chow Tai Fook, a century-old jewelry brand that began as a small goldsmith, implemented two sizable hikes in 2025. Its “five emperor coins” gold bracelet jumped from 53,800 RMB ($7,817) to 71,800 RMB ($10,432) last month, bringing the per-gram price well above 2,400 RMB ($349). Heritage jewelry holds appeal for HNWIs Despite prices surging, solid heritage gold products with intricate craftsmanship and higher artisanal premium have continued to sell steadily in boutique stores, pointing to resilient demand for high-end jewelry. According to the 2026 Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey, gold has ranked as the top investment choice for Chinese high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) for three consecutive years. In the survey’s ranking of most favored jewelry brands, Laopu went up from eighth place the previous year to third behind Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels, overtaking Cartier, Chanel, and Harry Winston. Bella Zhou used to shop around Tiffany, Buccellati, and at times Harry Winston in her 20s. Now, in her late 30s, she finds herself drawn more to heritage gold jewelry. “A few years ago, I came across a rose window gold pendant with a diamond in the center at Laopu’s Beijing SKP store. I was immediately attracted,” she tells Jing Daily. ”It felt so refined and culturally connected. I used to judge jewelry by appearance, but now I also think about whether it can hold up value. Gold has intrinsic value, especially now that diamonds can be lab-grown.” Mainstream consumers shift to affordable, smaller pieces While HNWIs continue holding gold jewelry as pieces that could be passed down as family heirlooms, mainstream consumers are either delaying purchases or trading down to lighter-weight gold products with value preservation in mind. According to the World Gold Council, lighter-weight, hard, pure gold jewelry with more design innovation has been gaining traction among aspirational, entry-level, and mass-market buyers. Some brands are already moving in that direction. A retailer survey by the Council found that more than 60% of surveyed jewelers plan to expand sub-10-gram items, while about 55% plan to increase offerings in the 2,000–5,000 RMB ($290–$725) price range. As migration and stratification reshape Chinese consumers’ gold demand, brands may need to differentiate by consumer segment. While luxury brands and heritage gold houses can maintain pricing power with affluent buyers willing to pay a premium, mass-market and demi-fine jewelers may have to compete through lighter-weight, distinctive designs and a broader range of mid-priced offerings.

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China’s gold jewelry market is not shrinking but stratifying