China's net gold imports from Hong Kong climb to 10-month high in September

Since the start of the year, China has now imported 582 tons of gold from Hong Kong on a net basis, which is just shy of 3% more than in the same period last year. In other words, imports have now caught up following a subdued start to the year - gold imports in the first half of the year were nearly 20% down on the previous year. 

China's appetite for gold has clearly increased considerably in recent months. As the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong government reported yesterday, China imported 97.2 tons of gold net from Hong Kong in September. 

"This was the highest volume since November of last year and 42% up on the year-on-year figure. It would seem that the low prices and the festival week at the beginning of October contributed to increased gold buying in China last month", says Commerzbank. 

Increased Swiss gold exports to China and Hong Kong and record-high gold withdrawals on the Shanghai Gold Exchange had already indicated robust Chinese gold imports.