China adds more gold to its coffers for sixth straight month

Beijing/London — China’s central bank added gold to its reserves in April for the sixth straight month, official data from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) showed on Wednesday.

Gold, traditionally seen as a refuge from political and economic uncertainty, scaled an all-time high of $3,500.05 an ounce last month, boosted by tariff war fears and strong demand in China and elsewhere.

Bullion is up 29% so far this year.

Despite high gold prices, China’s gold reserves rose to 73.77-million fine troy ounces at the end of April from 73.7-million ounces at the end of March.

Its gold reserves were valued at $243.59bn at the end of last month, up from $229.6bn at the end of March, the PBOC said.

“By continuing their accumulation of gold, the PBOC is signalling a continued desire to reduce their dependence on the dollar and US treasury bonds,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

Officials at the PBOC have never publicly commented on what was driving its gold purchases. The gold market specialists often explain this buying with China’s desire to diversify its foreign currency reserves and that the PBOC’s appetite for gold supports domestic demand in the country.

Amid a trade war between the US and China, the world’s top two economies, gold has been trading on the Shanghai Gold Exchange at a price premium over the global benchmark, with major inflows into Chinese physically backed gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Demand for gold bars and coins in China surged 30% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025.

In 2024, the PBOC took a six-month pause after its 18-month-long gold purchasing spree before resuming the gold buying in November, when Donald Trump won the US presidential election.

Trump on Sunday said the US was meeting with many countries, including China, on trade deals, and his main priority with China was to secure a fair trade deal.

Reuters