The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Oct. 2, edition that the demand for physical gold has decreased as prices rise. Some retail consumers are selling their holdings to lock in profits. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says spot gold reached a record high of $2,685.42 (U.S.) per ounce on Sept. 26, with a 29-per-cent increase this year. India reduced import duties on gold in July to combat smuggling, but local prices reached all-time highs, leading to decreased demand. In Europe, Germany and Austria's demand for gold has dropped since 2020 due to high interest rates, prompting investors to switch to yield-bearing assets. This year's gold price rally has further reduced the demand. Fragold founder Wolfgang Wrzesniok-Rossbach said: "Demand with the traders and banks has dropped by about 50 per cent, while imports of newly minted bars and coins has shrunk up to almost 80 per cent. The difference is covered by secondary material coming from buybacks." Analysts hope that another crucial category of demand, physically backed gold exchange traded funds, will see more activity in coming months but for now their inflows are rather modest. BullionVault analyst Adrian Ash said, "The cure for high prices is supposed to be high prices."