People’s Bank of China stops adding Gold to its reserve since Oct 2016

Shanghai (Nov 7)  Latest reports from the People’s Bank of China for May indicate that the World’s biggest consumer of yellow metal has kept its official gold reserve unchanged at 59.24 million ounces (1,842.6 tons) for the twelfth successive month in October.

 The People’s Bank of China has not added any gold to reserves since they were admitted to the SDR in October 2016.

 Latest data from the China Gold Association suggest the country is meeting its increased demand with its own production, at least as long as the People’s Bank of China stops adding to its gold reserves.

Because the central bank has not bought any gold as yet this year, import demand is falling because domestic gold production can be used entirely to satisfy private demand.

 Chinese gold demand surged by 15.5% year-on-year to 816 tons in the first nine months of the year, while domestic gold production fell by 3.8% to 375 tons.

 Last year, China adopted new rules to raise environmental requirements on solid waste from gold prospecting, leading to a wave of gold mine closures and output declines in the major producing provinces, including Shandong, Jiangxi and Hunan.

 China has been accumulating a lot of bullion over the past decade. It is also the largest producer of gold in the world and – along with India – one of the biggest consumers of the yellow metal.

 According to the World Gold Council’s data on the second quarter of 2017, China accounts for about 28.6 percent of the jewelry demand, and for about 26 percent of total bar and coin demand. And China – with its almost 1843 tons of gold – owns the fifth largest gold reserves in the world.

Source:  ScrptRegister