The recent skyrocketing gold price has sparked a frenzy of gold buying and gold buyback in China, as the retail price of gold jewelry of some brands in the country surpassed 700 yuan (about 96.77 U.S. dollars) per gram on Thursday.
In his latest speech delivered on Wednesday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Hayden Powell hinted that the Fed would not be in a hurry to cut interest rates. After his speech, the international gold price has hit a new high, reaching 2,300 U.S. dollars per ounce.
With the rise in gold prices, many gold jewelry wholesalers gathered recently in Zhaoyuan City in east China's Shandong Province, which is well known for its abundant gold deposit and production and is occasionally nicknamed "China's gold capital".
In some gold jewelry stores in Zhaoyuan, purchasers are "especially" cautious about gold jewelry buying, and fashionable gold jewelry with traditional Chinese culture becomes popular among buyers instead of the ones in traditional styles. Meanwhile, the amount of off-line gold raw materials buyback has surged, as many big gold hoarders choose to sell gold at high prices.
"With gold prices hitting record highs, the daily gold buyback volume here is about 300 to 500 kilograms. Our daily quota is now between 600 and 700 million yuan (about 82.94 million to 96.77 million U.S. dollars)," said Sun Xiaohui, deputy general manager of the business department of Shandong Zhaojin Gold and Silver Refinery Co., Ltd..
Some gold stores and companies in Shandong also opened online services for consumers to cash out the gold.
"We have taken various measures such as giving subsidy coupons, providing free mailing, and giving discount handling fees to let consumers quickly cash out gold. The highest single-day online gold cashing-out volume reached more than 3,000 grams," said Lin Yu, a person in charge of gold cash-in business of an online platform.
"China's gold capital" sees increased gold buyback volume amid skyrocketing prices
China successfully completed an ignition test on Sunday for its liquid-propellant engine with the highest thrust, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
This marks a new breakthrough in the country's liquid propulsion development. It is also the first-ever parallel ignition test of four large-thrust liquid oxygen (LOX) kerosene engines.
The 130-tonne class LOX kerosene engine, developed by the CASC, has a total thrust of over 500 tonnes.
Compared to the currently operational 120-tonne class LOX kerosene engines, it boasts not only a larger thrust and better performance, but also a more compact structure, effectively enhancing the rocket's carrying capacity.
"The successful test assessed the coordination of the multi-engine operation of our system, and the operating reliability of the engines in extreme thermal and force environment. [The result] indicates that the engines are fully qualified to participate in [rocket launching] tests," said Li Bin, deputy head of the Academy of Aerospace Liquid Propulsion Technology under CASC.
The engine used in this test was designed with the "pump back swing" technology, referring to an engine with a swing device at the rear. Compared with the main liquid oxygen kerosene engines currently in service, this kind of engine has a greater thrust, better performance, and a more compact structure.
With the pump back swing technology, more engines can be set within the same rocket diameter, which can effectively improve rocket carrying capacity.
"An engine with the pump back swing technology has a compact structure. For instance, we can place four engines within a diameter of 3.8 meters, and seven engines within a diameter of 5 meters," Li said.
The parallel ignition test refers to the integration of four mature engine systems, working in unison rather than simply being bundled together. This approach provides a larger thrust for the rocket while also reducing the overall complexity of the system.
The successful trial run validates the coordination of multiple engines and their reliability in high thermal environments, demonstrating that the engines are fully capable of flight applications.
After the test run, the engines will be delivered for rocket launching missions upon an engine check.
China completes ignition test for powerful liquid-propellant engine
