China's Gold Imports Top 1,000 Tonnes as Fed Hawks Keep a Lid on Prices
Published on 09/27/2026 at 08:01 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Chinese buyers have absorbed more than 1,000 tonnes of gold through August 2026, already eclipsing the country's entire import tally for 2025 with four months still to run. That insatiable appetite for physical metal stands in sharp contrast to the caution gripping Western futures markets, where rising bond yields have made life uncomfortable for holders of non-yielding assets.
The bid from Asia is broad-based. Central banks added 288.9 tonnes to their reserves in the second quarter of 2026, according to World Gold Council data — a 62% jump from the same period a year earlier and the strongest second quarter the council has ever recorded. Reserve managers in Poland and China did most of the heavy lifting, while Russia and Turkey sat on the selling side.
Exchange-traded funds have joined the party. The SPDR Gold Shares, the world's largest physically backed gold ETF, took in roughly $560 million in recent inflows and held just under 1,052 tonnes as of Wednesday, hovering near its highest level since the spring. Globally, gold-backed ETFs attracted $18 billion in August alone, swelling worldwide holdings by 121 tonnes, with fiscal policy worries and Treasury market dynamics cited as the catalysts.
Yields and the dollar call the tune
Against that sturdy physical backdrop, the paper market has been decidedly less cheerful. Spot gold closed Friday at $4,288.69 an ounce, a gain of 0.5% on the day, but the metal still finished the week down 2.1% and sits roughly 23% below its 52-week high set at the end of January.
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The culprit is the rate outlook. Hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials, reported by Reuters, pushed traders to price in additional tightening, lifting US Treasury yields and handing the dollar a firm tailwind. Ten- and thirty-year yields touched multi-year highs after a run of strong economic data. With dealers now factoring in further tightening at the Fed's October and December meetings, the opportunity cost of holding bullion — which pays no interest — keeps climbing.
Geopolitics added its own noise midweek. Crude oil spiked Thursday after a Houthi missile strike on Saudi Arabia stoked inflation fears and deepened rate anxiety. By Friday, signs of a softer oil market, tied to fresh hopes for a US-Iran agreement, offered enough relief to allow gold's modest daily advance.
India waits, Wall Street trims
Physical demand is not uniformly strong. In India, one of the world's biggest gold markets, buyers held back according to the World Gold Council, deterred by current price levels. Industry participants are pinning their hopes on the upcoming Indian festival and wedding season to revive jewellery purchases.
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Goldman Sachs trimmed its end-2026 price forecast to $4,650 an ounce in September, pointing to the Federal Reserve's rate path. Even so, the bank stressed that the longer-term upward momentum remains intact — as long as reserve managers around the globe keep diversifying their holdings and buying record volumes of the metal, the market's fundamental floor stays firmly in place.
Jobs report looms large
Monetary policy should dominate the week ahead, with Friday's monthly US employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics the key marker. A strong set of payroll numbers would likely fan rate fears further and keep the pressure on gold — even as China's buying spree and the central bank bid quietly absorb whatever the hawks throw at the market.
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