© depositphotos/Chonthicha Experts link China's acquisition of gold to its choice to avoid maintaining reserves in U.S. currency. The motivations behind Russia's gold disposals are still unclear.
Russian exports of valuable metals, notably gold, have grown considerably recently. In November of the current year, Russia furnished China with gold bullion valued at an unprecedented $961 million, equivalent to €818.6 million, marking a peak in the commercial history of both nations. DW announced this on December 21, referencing data from Russian and Chinese sources.
In October, Russia supplied China with a somewhat smaller quantity of gold: the overall sum totaled $930 million (€792.2 million). Cumulatively, for the first 11 months of 2025, China's procurements of Russian gold reached $1.9 billion. This means that during January to September, the total amount of supplies was a mere $9 million. Contrarily, during the corresponding period of the preceding year, Russian gold exports to China were non-existent, with the highest supply value in 2024 being only $223 million.
The Financial Times, a British publication, reported in mid-November that analysts express skepticism regarding the modest gold purchase volumes declared monthly by the People's Bank of China. According to specialists from Société Générale, a French financial group, China's collective acquisitions in 2025 will amount to 250 tons – exceeding a third of the aggregate demand from central banks globally.
Moreover, this volume surpasses China’s officially reported data, compiled on the World Gold Council website, by over tenfold.
It indicates that China procured 23.95 tons of this prized metal from January to September 2025. Analysts attribute the country’s substantial interest in gold to its decision to eschew dollar-denominated reserves.
It is worth remembering that China has consistently directed its surplus capital into gold for several successive years, rather than investing in Treasuries (government debt instruments). As a consequence, gold prices are escalating and establishing new benchmarks.
Analysts suggest that if China were to aggressively offload its US bond portfolio on the open market and reinvest the capital into gold, the pace of price appreciation for the “yellow metal” would accelerate even further.
The People’s Bank of China augmented its gold holdings to 74.02 million ounces by the close of August 2025. In comparison, Ukraine’s gold reserves at that juncture hovered around 1.3 million troy ounces.