Reuters: China Opens Its Borders to Multi-billion Dollar Gold Imports - Sources

Article by Peter Hobson, Xiao Han and Swati Verma in Reuters

China has given domestic and international banks permission to import large amounts of gold into the country, five sources familiar with the matter said, potentially helping to support gold prices after a months-long decline.

China is the world's biggest gold consumer, gobbling up hundreds of tons worth tens of billions of dollars each year, but its imports plunged as the coronavirus spread and local demand dried up.

With China's economy rebounding strongly since the second half of last year, its appetite for gold jewelry, bars and coins has also recovered, and since January domestic prices have been higher than global benchmark rates, making it profitable to import bullion.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the nation's central bank, controls how much gold enters China through a system of quotas given to commercial banks. It usually allows enough metal in to satisfy local demand but sometimes restricts the flow.

In recent weeks it has given permission for large amounts of bullion to enter, the sources said.

"We had no quotas for a while. Now we are getting them ... the most since 2019," said a source at one of the banks moving gold into China.

Around 150 tons of gold worth $8.5 billion at current prices is likely to be shipped, four sources said. Two of the sources said the bullion would be shipped in April. Two others said it would reach China over April and May.

India's demand for bullion has also rebounded from a pandemic-induced slump, with record-breaking imports in March of 160 tons of gold, an Indian government source told Reuters this month.

China and India typically account for some two fifths of the world's annual demand for gold.

Their recovery is "critical in setting the floor for gold" and should .....

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