China’s central bank has bought gold for 23 months in a row, and the country is importing more of the metal than ever. In the first eight months of 2026 it spent a record $158.8 billion on more than 1,000 tonnes, more than in all of 2025.
China’s appetite for gold is breaking records, CNBC reported on Monday, October 12, citing official data and analysts.
The Central Bank
The People’s Bank of China added about 23 tonnes in September, its biggest monthly purchase in almost three years, according to State Administration of Foreign Exchange data. That extends its buying streak to 23 straight months, the longest since at least 2015.
The Import Boom
| Period | Spend | Volume |
|---|---|---|
| First eight months of 2026 | $158.8 billion (record) | More than 1,000 tonnes |
| All of 2025 | $96.5 billion | 886 tonnes |
Aakash Doshi of State Street Investment Management said consumer gold imports hit a record in the period, and that rising premiums on China’s onshore gold prices point to “stronger winter seasonal demand”.
Why China Is Buying
Carsten Menke of Julius Baer said the central bank’s main motive is political: “the weaponization of the U.S. dollar and the related desire to be less dependent on U.S. Treasuries as a reserve asset”. Western governments froze Russia’s central bank assets after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, showing that foreign-held reserves can be restricted, while gold held in a country’s own vaults cannot.
China’s holdings of US Treasurys reached an 18-year low of $618 billion in July, according to US Treasury data.
Households Have Few Alternatives
- Real estate, once the main store of household wealth, is in a multiyear slump
- The CSI 300 index is down about 8 percent this year, against a 13 percent gain for the S&P 500
- China’s one-year government bond yield is about 1.2 percent, against about 4.46 percent in the US
Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank said the opportunity cost of holding gold is lower in China than in many Western markets.
Prices
Gold fell more than 8 percent in September to about $4,176 an ounce, after hitting a record above $5,500 in January. Doshi forecasts a rise to $4,750 to $5,500 an ounce by the end of the first quarter of 2027, helped by robust demand.
Image: A gold ingot and a gold bar on display at the Banque de France in Paris, September 2022 (file photo). Photo: Ibex73 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
