China spends record value of 158,800 million on gold imports

According to data cited by the Financial Times, the country imported more than 1,000 tons of gold between January and August, already exceeding 886 tons purchased throughout the year 2025, for $96,500 million (EUR 84,450 million).

The increase occurs after China reduced purchases last year, during a strong appreciation of precious metal, whose price went from around 2,625 dollars (EUR 2,297) per troy ounce in early 2025 to a maximum of 5,595 dollars (EUR 4,896) in January.

China is also the world's largest gold producer, having extracted 384 tons last year, according to the World Gold Council.

The increase in imports arises in a context of increasing demand by Chinese investors for alternatives to diversify savings, given the prolonged real estate crisis, the poor performance of the stock market and the low yields of public debt.

The CSI 300 index, which brings together some of the largest companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, accumulates a fall of 1.8% since the beginning of the year and remains more than 20% below the maximum reached at the beginning of 2021.

Chinese sovereign bond yields are close to historical minimums.

Chinese positions in U.S. Treasury bonds fell to $618 billion (EUR 540.000 million) in July, the lowest level since August 2008.

“ Both the central bank and private investors are diversifying reserves and savings towards a counterparty risk-free asset as part of a broader long-term wealth preservation strategy,” said Lisa Liu, director-general of Gold Mountains Asset Management, belonging to the Zijin Mining group, China’s largest gold producer, quoted by FT.

Liu considered that this is not a “short-term operation”, but a “multiannual repositioning of the assets of families and institutions”.

“The scale and persistence of Chinese purchases are now a central factor in global gold prices and we hope that as long as uncertainty about growth and geopolitics persists,” he added.

Gold has also played a growing role in diversifying investors' portfolios at a time when the traditional relationship between bonds and shares has changed.

Christopher Hamilton, Asset Manager Officer Invesco for the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan, told France Télécom that the price of gold no longer reacts to the increase in real interest rates in the same way as in the past.

“ We are in an environment in which we want to hold real assets”, he said, adding that institutional purchases remain the main supporting factor of the price of precious metal.

Analysts from the American bank Goldman Sachs also estimate that the gold purchases from the People's Bank of China (central bank) are higher than those officially disclosed.

In a note published this month they estimated that the Chinese central bank acquired 35 tonnes in July against the 20 tonnes indicated in the official data.

Chinese purchases still occur in a context of increasing demand from States to keep the gold reserves closer to their owners.

Last month, the Dutch Government transferred some of the gold reserves it kept in New York to London.