ROBUST sales pushed China to replace India as the world's largest gold jewelry market in the third quarter, the World Gold Council said yesterday.

The demand for gold jewelry in China sparkled 13 percent year on year to 138.6 tons in the third quarter, the WGC said in its quarterly report yesterday.

The WGC said China's third and fourth-tier cities fueled most of the increase in demand as retail chains continued to expand their sales network there.

The demand for gold jewelry among Chinese in the country accounted for about 30 percent of the world's total.

Albert Cheng, the WGC's managing director for the Far East region, said China's bullion demand may exceed 750 tons this year, which include 500 tons of jewelry demand and more than 250 tons of investment demand.

China's gold investment demand was 62.2 tons in the third quarter, a rise of 26 percent on an annual basis, according to the WGC report.

"Favored by all the bullish factors, China's total gold demand in 2012 will continue to grow by double digits," Cheng said, adding that China's total demand should rise to 800 tons next year.

Rising investment demand in China was largely due to concerns over inflation and fears that gold prices may rise further, the report said.

China is the second-largest gold market in the world after India.

Globally, gold demand in the third quarter gained 6 percent year on year to reach 1,053 tons.

Fueled by China's growing appetite for gold, global demand for gold investment in bars and coins increased 29 percent to 390.5 tons in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier.