FT Confirms China's Dirty Little Gold Secret
As noted in this space and detailed using proprietary methods, breaking down reports from Goldman Sachs, Soc Gen, Jefferies, and our own observations paraphrasing James Rickards several times in this space over the last three years; China’s central bank and related entities appear to be buying far more gold than they officially report, creating a large and opaque source of demand that is closely tied to a broader effort to reduce exposure to the US dollar and that helps explain the current record bullion prices.
Our latest breakdown below is based on some reporting by the Financial Times, in particular Leslie Hook’s excellent work breaking down a SocGen piece titled “China’s secretive gold purchases help fuel record rally,” and organizes the FT’s findings and sourced views into a structured framework with our own past proprietary analysis embedded for understanding the scale and implications of these flows as we have warned multiple times over the last 3 years following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and confiscation of Russian Wealth.
Incidentally, the next story worth covering is Soc Gen’s analysis and our breakdown of the fact that Russia’s Gold production stands at approximately 330 tonnes in 2025, none of which has been accounted for in sales or in CB holding increases yet. This we contend is all part of the same big picture development; That the BRICS are preparing to release Gold’s financing potential in HQLA Collateral fashion as direct competition for the global REPO market with US Treasuries.
But that is for another time1
The FT work vindicates our own work, and that of those who came before us like ZH and BBG (and before them Jim Rickards, Sinclair and more). This will only raise awareness of Gold’s ascendant importance in global trade
Let’s Begin by Re-Summarizing:
