China making attempt to become gold trading center of the world

coinworld.com | By Paul Gilkes, Coin World | October 7, 2015

Amassing tons at a rate representing 90 percent of newly mined gold totals for 2015

The People’s Bank of China is amassing tons of gold in an apparent effort to become the gold trading center of the world, according to Mike Fuljenz, a gold dealer and market analyst.

In The Mike Fuljenz Metals Market Report for the first week of October, Fuljenz writes that “transfers from Switzerland (a traditional gold trading center in Europe) to China are part of the global gold migration from the West to the East. China is also absorbing much of the gold sold by U.S. ETF [exchange-traded fund] traders. Sales in the new Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) exceed trading volumes at any other global gold market. Over 65 metric tons of gold were withdrawn in the week ending September 25, making a year-to-date total of 1,958.7 tons, an annual rate of nearly 2700 tons — which represents about 90 percent of the newly-mined gold totals this year.”

According to EconomicInfoHub.com, China has spent the past six years importing thousands of metric tons of gold and buying all of its own domestic production.

EconomicInfoHub.com reports that according to Koos Jansen at BullionStar.com, “the China Gold Association (CGA) Yearbook listed net imports in 2013 at 1,524 tonnes, with an additional 428 tonnes from domestic production, a sum total of 1,952 tonnes. In 2014, China imported at least 1,250 tonnes and domestically mined 452 tonnes, for a sum total of 1,702 tonnes. Total imports amounted to more than 410 tonnes in the first two months of 2015 alone, which is a big jump from 2014 demand.”