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London--Demand for gold jewelry in the United States fell again last year, though there are indications the continued decline is bottoming out, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in its latest report.

According to the WGC’s Gold Demand Trends report for the full year 2011, U.S. gold jewelry demand slipped 11 percent to 115.1 tons for the full year and was down 9 percent to 42.7 tons in the fourth quarter.

In value terms, gold jewelry demand was up 15 percent to $5.8 billion for the year--close to its 2006 peak--and rose 12 percent to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter.

The market for gold jewelry continued to be impacted by its high price, retailers carrying alternative metals, including silver, and hesitant consumers, who are holding back because of high unemployment, depressed real estate prices and volatility in the stock market. 

Despite the fact that 2011 marks the 10th year in a row jewelry demand has declined in the U.S., the WGC report points out that the 9 percent fourth-quarter slide is the lowest seen since 2005. And this comes in spite of the fact that the metal’s per-ounce price hit record highs during the year.

The ongoing drop in demand for gold jewelry in the United States “looks to be moderating,” the report states.

Globally, the report shows that jewelry demand for gold fell 3 percent year-over-year to 1,962.9 tons. Fourth quarter demand was 476.5 tons, down 15 percent from the fourth quarter 2010. The value measure of gold, however, hit record highs for both full year and fourth quarter, at $99.2 billion and $25.9 billion, respectively.

Decline in demand in both the jewelry and technology sectors resulted in the total global demand for gold rising less than 1 percent in 2011, to 4,067.1 tons worth an estimated $205.5 billion.

In addition to demand, the WGC’s year-end report also gives a review of the per-ounce price of gold over the course of 2011.

As already has been well documented, the price of gold was high for the majority of the year. Heading into September, the gold price was up 30 percent year-over-year, but a sharp decline shortly thereafter reduced the year’s gain to high single-digit figures, as the WGC noted last month.

Gold fell from its September high of $1,895 an ounce to end the year at $1,531 per ounce. Despite the volatility, the average per-ounce price of gold was up 28 percent year-over-year to $1,571.52, according to the report.