Gold jewellery demand fell to its weakest level in almost 20 years in the first quarter of 2009 while recycling of scrap reached record levels as the global economy sank deeper into recession.

“Recycling of gold became a global phenomenon in the first quarter of this year,” said Rozanna Wozniak, investment research manager of the World Gold Council: “The wave of recycling activity clearly shows that used jewellery is not a ‘waste' product.”

Jewellery demand fell by almost a quarter compared with the same period in 2008 to 339.4 tonnes. But this was outweighed by massive inflows from financial investors. Inflows into gold exchange-traded funds reached 465.1 tonnes in the first quarter, up 540 per cent on the same period last year. This helped push total gold demand up 38 per cent to 1,015.5 tonnes in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008.