24 months and counting: China is buying gold’s dip

China’s central bank bought more gold in October, and again bought more than the month before. Official reserves rose by 830,000 ounces to 78.3 million ounces at the end of the month, China Daily reports. That is about 26 tonnes, the 24th consecutive month of purchases and the largest increase since September 2023, when reserves rose by 840,000 ounces.

When we looked at September’s purchase last month, we noted that the October print could extend the streak, break the run of bigger purchases, or end the buying altogether. It extended both the streak and the run.

Eight months of bigger purchases

February to July as reported by The Vault Report from SAFE data; August to October as reported by China Daily. Tonnes are our conversion, at about 32,150 troy ounces to the tonne.

China Daily describes this as the eighth straight month of a faster pace, and the table agrees: every month since March has been larger than the one before. August’s step was only 10,000 ounces, the smallest unit SAFE reports in, so that month was close to flat. The Vault Report put the year to September at about 103 tonnes, so October takes 2026 to about 129 tonnes by our addition.

It is still not a record. September 2023’s 840,000 ounces was slightly larger, so “biggest in three years” is accurate and “biggest ever” is not.

Buying into a falling price

China Daily notes that the pace picked up as gold prices fell in October, but it reports no official reason for the buying, and the size of a purchase alone does not reveal one. The lower price did show up elsewhere in the numbers. Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Orient Golden Credit Rating International, told the paper that gold’s share of China’s official reserves fell 0.5 percentage points on the month to about 7.9%, mainly because of lower prices.

Wang compared that with a figure of 27% for gold’s share of central banks’ reserve assets worldwide at the end of 2025, and said that leaves considerable room for more accumulation. That is the analyst’s reading, not a statement of policy. China’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $3.4052 trillion at the end of October, up 0.14% on the month, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

The wider picture

China is not buying alone. The World Gold Council says central banks added a net 321 tonnes in the third quarter, up 42% on the year and the highest quarterly total since the end of 2024, for 675 tonnes so far in 2026. See also Central banks just bought the most gold in two years and China’s record gold imports.

These are the figures China reports, and they are the only official record. Nothing here is advice or a forecast. The current price is on the gold price page.

Every figure here is as reported by the publications listed under Sources, at the time they reported it. Prices move; the live gold price has the current one. Nothing on this page is investment advice.