Chinese foreign trade statistics indicate that China imported 25 billion raw gold from Canada in 2024, while official Canadian data estimates the deliveries of precious metal in China at 1.9 billion.
It is the Globe and Mail who reported the first information on Tuesday.
If we trust Chinese statistics, gold therefore becomes the first Canadian export product to China, in front of canola and coal.
The difference between Chinese and Canadian figures is explained by a different methodology. China traces the origin of the products that enter into her house. We understand that Canadian gold goes through London or New York before being re -expressed in China. In Canada, these sales are counted as exports to the United States and the United Kingdom.
Since 2016, China has regularly increased its gold reserves in place of its reserves in US dollars. The movement gained momentum after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the frost of the assets in US dollars of the attacker that followed. A gesture that is part of the tendency on the part of the United States to use the US dollar as a weapon of war. According to data from the Global Gold Council, the Chinese central bank holds 2,292 tonnes of gold in the first quarter of 2025, compared to 1800 tonnes in the first quarter of 2016. It is generally understood that the communist country underestimates the scale of its declared reserves in gold ingots for strategic reasons.
China’s purchases are copied in the world.
For example, all central banks increased their gold reserves from 123 tonnes in total in the first half of 2025, according to the World Gold Council. The National Bank of Poland is the largest buyer in 2025 (67 tonnes), followed by Azerbaijan (35 tonnes) and the National Bank of Kazakhstan (22 tonnes).
Note that Canada is the only G-7 country has not having a gold reserve even if the country is the world’s fourth producer in importance behind China, Australia and Russia.
These significant purchases of central banks had an upward impact on the price of gold and the value of the titles of gold companies. Gold has increased by 26 % since 1is January. The XGD Stock Exchange Fund, which brings together the main gold producers, is up 66 % in 2025.
Companies like Lundin Gold, with a total return of 158 % since January 1, and Newmont, 76 %, do even better.