China Imported 764 Tons of Gold in Six Months

China Customs counted 764 tonnes of gold entering the country in the first half of 2026. That is 138 percent more than a year earlier. June alone was 152 tonnes, the heaviest month since March 2024. The World Gold Council published those figures on 14 August from China Customs under HS code 7108, in its China gold market update.

The country table already lives on the gold forecast desk. The live fact here is the size of the import print.

Customs counted 764 tonnes

HS7108 is unwrought gold. Bars, powder, other forms that cross the border as metal. The Council's China note, written by Ray Jia, charts net imports at 152 tonnes in June, up 2 tonnes from May, and 764 tonnes across January through June. Source line on that chart: China Customs, World Gold Council.

Those tonnes are not the same object as the reserve line in Beijing. They are bars that cleared Chinese customs. Who took delivery on the other side (the central bank, a commercial bank, a jeweller, an ETF custodian, a refiner) is not in the HS code.

Shanghai Gold Exchange withdrawals, the wholesale pipe used by banks, jewellers and refiners, were 80 tonnes in July, down 8 percent from June and 15 percent from a year earlier. Chinese gold ETFs took in 34 tonnes from January through July, the second-strongest such stretch the Council has on the books, and held 282 tonnes at the end of July.

SAFE's July print

On 7 August the State Administration of Foreign Exchange posted the 2026 official reserve assets table. The gold row for July is 76.08 million troy ounces. June was 75.44 million. Converted, that is about 2,366 tonnes versus 2,346 tonnes, a 20-tonne addition.

The People's Bank of China reports that stock through SAFE. The Council's 14 August note says the July addition was the largest since late 2023 and the 21st consecutive month of reported buying, "the longest on record," with the gold share of total foreign-exchange reserves at 8 percent. Chart source: State Administration of Foreign Exchanges, World Gold Council.

In the Council's Gold Demand Trends for the second quarter, published 30 July, the PBOC added 33 tonnes in Q2, the largest quarterly addition since Q4 2023 (44 tonnes). The first-half increase was 40 tonnes, taking reported holdings to 2,346 tonnes at end-June, before the July SAFE print.

Adding the 764-tonne customs flow to the 20-tonne reserve addition and calling the gap a secret stockpile would mix two ledgers. Customs counts metal crossing the border. SAFE counts what the central bank puts on the reserve line. Chinese ETFs and SGE withdrawals sit on other ledgers. A hidden official hoard is not in those prints. The prints are not interchangeable.

Named buyers, as filed

Buyer names that do appear come from national filings, compiled by the World Gold Council from the Fund's International Financial Statistics, plus the Council's own patches where it knows of unreported moves.

Reported buying in the first half, from the Q2 Gold Demand Trends page (data to 30 June where available):

• Poland added 82 tonnes, 51 of them in Q2, taking reserves to 632 tonnes by end-June, still short of the National Bank's 700-tonne target.
• China added 40 tonnes on the reported reserve line.
• Uzbekistan added 16 tonnes in Q2. Kazakhstan added 15 tonnes. Jordan and the Czech National Bank added 6 tonnes each.

Sales slowed in Q2. Turkey, the large Q1 seller, reported a 4-tonne Q2 sale and cut outstanding gold-currency swaps from more than 80 tonnes to about 60 tonnes by end-June. In the original Q1 write-up, official-sector holdings in Turkey had fallen about 70 tonnes; Governor Fatih Karahan said a large part of related transactions were gold-currency swap futures that return the metal at maturity. Russia was the largest Q2 seller, 22 tonnes. Azerbaijan's oil fund (SOFAZ) had sold 22 tonnes in Q1.

The older Board gold-forecast article still carries the April cut of Q1, when the Council put net official demand at 244 tonnes. Use the Q2 central-bank page now.

The Council cut the first-quarter total

Gold Demand Trends Q2 2026, central-bank section, 30 July. Net purchases were 289 tonnes in Q2, a fivefold increase on Q1's revised estimate of 57 tonnes, and a record for a second quarter. First-half demand, 345 tonnes, was the lowest for a first half since 2022 (241 tonnes).

Footnote 2 on that page: "New data and analysis led to a sizable revision to our Q1 central bank demand estimate from 244t to 57t." The Q1 HTML page now banners readers to the Q2 revision, including a reclassification from central banks to over-the-counter business. Reported Q1 sales from Turkey, Russia and SOFAZ weighed on the half.

Unreported buying, the residual between estimated official demand and what has been disclosed, was "again elevated" in Q2. The Council has carried that residual as a large line since 2022. It is a residual, not a named buyer.

The International Monetary Fund's COFER survey is the file most often waved as the scorecard of who is dumping the dollar for gold. It does not include monetary gold. The Fund's FAQ says so. Individual countries' currency mixes are seen by four staff. The published table is a world aggregate.

On 1 July the Fund's COFER brief put total foreign-exchange reserves at $13.10 trillion in 2026 Q1. The dollar's share was 57.13 percent, the euro 20.03 percent, the renminbi 1.99 percent. In the same brief: gold overtook U.S. Treasuries as a share of official reserve assets in 2025, "driven almost entirely by gold price valuation effects," and that move does not show up in COFER's dollar share. A price rally is not a reported tonne.

Wikipedia's gold-reserve table, updated 11 August from Trading Economics and Reuters, is not a source.

For the country table and the four-clock gold desk (pit, vault, mine, reserve), stay on the gold forecast hub. The Turkey dump piece is the Q1 sales story; Karahan's swap line is the qualifier. The July gold-path update is price, not customs. Hormuz oil routing is a different desk: Strait of Hormuz oil shock.

Sources

• China Customs via World Gold Council, "China gold market update: Strong official sector buying in July," 14 August 2026 (HS7108 chart; SGE; ETF; PBOC/SAFE chart).
• SAFE, Official reserve assets (2026), posted 7 August 2026, gold row: 75.44 million oz in June, 76.08 million oz in July.
• World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends Q2 2026, Central Banks, 30 July 2026 (289t Q2; 57t revised Q1; 345t H1; Poland 82t; China 40t / 33t Q2).
• World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends Q1 2026, Central Banks, 29 April 2026 (original 244t; Turkey ~70t; Karahan swap quote; SOFAZ 22t; Russia 22t), now superseded on the net total.
• Fund COFER brief, 1 July 2026, and the COFER FAQ (gold excluded).

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