China expands gold reserves by 15 tonnes

China added precious metal to its reserves again in April added. With the purchase of almost 15 tonnes of gold, the country's total gold reserve rises to just over 1,900 tonnes. It is the fifth month in a row that the Chinese have been buying gold, after a period of almost two years in which the gold supply remained constant. China's gold reserves are valued at $78.35 billion, accounting for 2.5% of total reserves.

The Chinese central bank has added a lot of gold to its reserves over the years for diversification. The precious metal has no counterparty risk and can be used to make international payments under all circumstances. Since the year 2000, the country has gradually increased its gold reserves from 400 to 1,900 metric tons. This makes China one of the six countries with the largest gold reserves. In the last five months, the central bank has added more than 50 tonnes of gold to its reserves, as the graphs below show.

Chinese central bank's gold stock rises to 1900 tons

China has been adding gold to reserves for five months in a row

China continues to buy gold

In less than a decade, China has become the largest producer, importer and consumer of the yellow precious metal. According to figures from the LBMA, China accounted for imports of more than 1,500 tonnes of gold. This means that not only the central bank, but also the population buys a lot of gold. Savers see the precious metal as a means to protect their savings against a depreciation of the Chinese yuan.

China's central bank has been the largest buyer of the precious metal in recent years, along with Russia's. Both countries see the dependence on the dollar as a risk and are therefore strengthening their position in the precious metal. In recent years, more and more countries have Buy gold, as last year central banks' aggregate purchases rose to their highest level since 1967.