gold imports

Gold demand saw a revival in the financial year 2017-18, over the preceding fiscal, 2016-17, according to analysts. In fact, the import of the yellow metal stood at 74 metric tonnes (MT) in FY2017-18, increasing from 62 MT in FY2016-17, an increase of 19% year-on-year . . . .

Consumption of the precious metal climbed 9.4 per cent to 1,089 tonnes, according to data from the China Gold Association, released on Thursday. That represents a big turnaround . . . .

Last week Russia’s Central Bank First Deputy Governor Sergei Shvetsov said Russians own gold bullion and their central bank is adding to its gold reserves in order to “beef up national security" . . . .

Russia has been expanding its gold reserves at a record pace, according to information from the World Gold Council (WGC). Russian business newspaper Kommersant suggests this gold rush will give Russia guarantees against sanctions and economic and geopolitical risks . . . .

Turkey purchased a record $13.8bn of gold from abroad this year, $9.8bn more than in the same period last year, Bloomberg reported . . . .

Perhaps the biggest unknown in assessing global gold consumption in this, or any, year is the true level of Chinese gold consumption . . . .

The Central Bank of Russia has recently been buying bullion at an unprecedented pace. According to Argentine financial expert Gabriel Rubinstein, this policy is aimed at protecting the Russian economy in the event of crisis situations, including against dollar-related "manipulations" by the US . . . .

According to the People’s Bank of China – the country’s central bank – the Asian economic giant’s gold reserves have now remained unchanged for 11 straight months - indeed ever since the nation’s currency – the yuan or reminbi – was admitted by the IMF as an integral constituent of that entity’s Special Drawing Right (SDR) . . . .

German investors had little interest in gold prior to 2008, but last year they spent over 6 billion euros on gold investment products . . . .

The Russian Central Bank announced last week that its gold reserves had reached 56.1 million troy ounces (approximately 1,745 metric tons). The total included an additional 500,000 ounces (approximately 15.5 metric tons) of gold added in August . . . .