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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
From January to September, Russia shipped 165 tons of gold bars to Hong Kong. That is more than three times the figure for the same period last year. After Western sanctions were imposed, China became the main market for Russian gold.
As Dilo reports, this was reported by The Moscow Times.
Why does the import go through Hong Kong?
"Hong Kong is a free port with no customs duties or VAT on gold and provides direct access to the Chinese market, which has not imposed sanctions on Russian gold," analysts at the Center for Economic Forecasting note.
Shipments of Russian gold to Hong Kong have increased by more than 55 times compared with the prewar period. In 2021 that figure was only 3,3 tons for the entire year. Russian gold now accounts for 15% of all gold bar shipments to China via Hong Kong.
Ban on Russian gold
After the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the route for Russian gold to Western markets was effectively closed. In 2022 the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) removed Russian refining plants from its list of recognized suppliers, and the G7 countries banned imports of Russian gold.
At first, Dubai became an important trading hub for Russian metal. However, later the United Arab Emirates, under pressure from the US and the UK, tightened controls on the gold trade.
China accumulates gold
Analysts estimate that every third Russian gold bar sold to China could have come from the reserves of the Bank of Russia. This year the regulator sold about 60 tons of the precious metal to finance the budget deficit. In particular, 18,7 tons were sold in the third quarter and 21,8 tons in the second.
This is Russia’s largest gold sell-off since 1998, when the country experienced a sovereign debt default.
At the same time, the People’s Bank of China has been replenishing its gold reserves for 23 months in a row. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), it bought 63,14 tons of metal in the third quarter alone. Total gold imports into China this year rose by 72% compared with the same period last year.
Before the full-scale war, Russia exported about 300 tons of gold per year — more than 80% of output. Total production was approximately 360 tons per year, of which about 300 tons came directly from mining.
Current production and export volumes are unknown because the Russian authorities classified customs statistics after the invasion of Ukraine. The WGC estimates that in 2024 Russia mined about 330 tons of gold.
It was previously reported that the Bank of Russia has been selling gold from its reserves for the tenth consecutive month as part of operations to cover the budget deficit, which this year will be twice the initial plans — 7,3 trillion rubles (88,92 billion US dollars).
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Росія імпортувала до Китаю рекордні 165 тонн золота: потоки зросли більш ніж утричі за рік". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Delo.ua.
