China now controls the POG.
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PBoC’s March gold purchases lowest since November 2022, but China stillcontrols price
(***** News) –China’s central bank added gold to its reserves for the 17th straight month inMarch, but the increase was the smallest since the streak began in November2022, according to official data released Sunday.
The People’s Bankof China announced that they increased their gold holdings by 0.2% to 72.74million troy ounces last month, with record-high prices likely discouragingthem from heftier purchases. Spot gold went on quite a run during the month,climbing from $2,040 per ounce on March 1 to a new all-time high above $2,265by March 31.
Central bank buyinghas been a significant driver of gold’s price gains since the Russian invasionof Ukraine in 2022, and China has led the sovereign buying during that period.High prices have dampened demand in recent months, however, with sovereign goldpurchases declining 58% month-over-month in February.
China’s net gold imports from HongKong fell 48% in February, with net importsfrom the Special Administrative Region coming in at 39.826 metric tons, datafrom the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department showed, far lower than the76.248 tons imported in January and the lowest level since November 2023.
While the lowFebruary numbers could also have been impacted by the Lunar New Year holidays,which shuttered markets and stopped most business activities between Feb.10-17, the March figures confirm the downward trend in China’s sovereignpurchases.
But many expertsstill believe that the last 17 months represent a fundamental shift in the goldmarket away from the West and to the East, and to China in particular, and thattrend is not expected to reverse any time soon.
Canadian mininglegends Frank Giustra, CEO of Fiore Group, and Pierre Lassonde, ChairmanEmeritus at Franco-Nevada, said in a recent panel with ***** News that the West haslost its power to set the price of gold, and warned of a new geopoliticalreality dominated by resource nationalism.
“The worldhasn't woken up yet,” Lassonde told Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor andEditor-in-Chief at ***** News, during ***** Insights Interactive Mining Titans'Power Panel. “The marginal buyer of gold is no longer the U.S. It's no longerEurope. It's China. Between the country's central bank and the Chinese public,China takes up over two-thirds of all the annual production.”
“They are the newmarginal buyer,” he said. “That's where the gold price is set.”
