China’s Gold Imports Top 1,000 Metric Tons Through August

China imported more than 1,000 metric tons of gold during the first eight months of 2026, surpassing its full-year 2025 total as demand broadened beyond official reserve purchases and reduced exposure to dollar assets.

The January-through-August total exceeded the 886 metric tons imported during all of 2025. The imports reflected demand from the People’s Bank of China, commercial institutions, exchange-traded funds, bullion investors and jewelry buyers, rather than central-bank purchases alone.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) added 20.2 metric tons of gold in August, its largest monthly increase since October 2023. Its reported holdings reached 2,387 metric tons at the end of August, equivalent to 9% of China’s foreign-exchange reserves. Holdings increased for 22 consecutive months through August.

China’s holdings of U.S. Treasury securities fell to $618.0 billion at the end of July from $633.4 billion at the end of June. The decline came as domestic investment alternatives, including property, equities, deposits and bonds, remained less attractive to some investors.

“The weaponization of the U.S. dollar and the related desire to be less dependent on U.S. Treasuries as a reserve asset” are supporting gold demand, Carsten Menke of Julius Baer Group said.

Chinese gold ETFs added 11 metric tons in August, lifting collective holdings to 293 metric tons. Assets under management reached approximately $42 billion.

Investment demand remained stronger than jewelry and wholesale demand. Shanghai Gold Exchange withdrawals fell 22% from July and 27% from a year earlier to 62 metric tons in August. Net gold imports totaled 118 metric tons in July, down 34 metric tons from June but up 34% from a year earlier.

Lower Chinese interest rates also reduce the relative cost of holding non-yielding gold. The one-year Chinese government bond yield was approximately 1.2%, compared with about 4.46% in the United States.

“The opportunity cost of holding gold is also much lower in China than in many Western markets,” Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank said.

Chinese buying can support gold when higher U.S. yields pressure the metal. “Chinese buying has become an important source of structural support for gold prices,” Ewa Manthey of ING Bank said.

That support could weaken if U.S. yields rise further, the yuan depreciates, Chinese deposit rates increase or confidence returns to China’s property and equity markets. Hansen said a loss of central-bank diversification demand and easing geopolitical tensions were possible risks, but “neither appears particularly imminent.”