Hong Kong gold imports fall 18% in July as mainland giants rush to build vaults

Thu Aug 27 2026

Gold flows into Hong Kong eased to about 107 tonnes in July despite mainland corporate buyers pouring capital into new bullion vaults, as they bet on the city’s strategic ambition to establish itself as Asia’s premier hub for the precious metal.

The city’s non-monetary gold imports fell about 18 per cent from June, a month that registered a decade-long high as banks built up inventory ahead of the trial launch of the city’s gold clearing and settlement system that opened on July 7.

The value of shipments fell to HK$114.71 billion (US$14.63 billion) from HK$142.02 billion, according to data released by Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department.

“Import demand related to stocking has started to stabilise since the gold inventory build-up was largely completed in June,” said Ming Lam, councillor of the Greater China Division of CPA Australia. “Investors and traders may rebalance their overall investment portfolios, including their positions in gold.”

Even with the monthly correction, appetite remained strong compared with February, when imports stood at just 72.16 tonnes. The robust demand comes as banks and logistics companies bet on Hong Kong’s gold vaults, moving to secure physical storage capacity as shipments for the precious metal expand.

SF Express, China’s largest courier, is setting up a gold vault in Tsing Yi this year, according to a government registry provided to the South China Morning Post. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the mainland’s largest state-owned lender by total assets, is also developing a precious-metals storage facility.

Industry players noted that Hong Kong’s newly introduced gold clearing and settlement system had established a framework for transferring static gold holdings. While still in its early stages, the system could boost regional liquidity and streamline operations, helping institutions to manage both physical and financial gold exposure.

Family offices across Hong Kong and Singapore, for instance, had shown growing interest in gold trading, said William Chow, deputy group chief executive officer at Raffles Family Office.

Looking at the broader implications, Vikas Gupta, head of Trading, Asia Currencies and Emerging Markets at JPMorgan Chase, noted that a “vibrant gold trading system in Asia, including inventory, futures and repos, could influence prices in London and New York”.

Meanwhile, mainland China’s net gold imports via Hong Kong rose by about 11 per cent in July from a month earlier to 56.193 tonnes, marking a 28 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2025, official data showed.

The growing inflow comes amid strong retail buying of gold jewellery, bars and coins on the mainland. Total gold consumption reached 511.41 tonnes in the first half of 2026, up 1.23 per cent year on year, according to data published in August by the China Gold Association.

China became the world’s largest gold consumer in 2013 and has since consumed about five times that of the United States, three times that of Europe and nearly double all other emerging markets combined, S&P Global Ratings reported in August.

Meanwhile, gold prices traded higher at about US$4,630 an ounce on Thursday following the US Treasury announcing last week that it would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buy-back operations for long-dated bonds, fuelling concerns about the erosion of the US dollar’s purchasing power.

Source: https://www.scmp.com