The World Gold Council’s China gold market update for August, published on 14 September 2026, reports that gold withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange fell to 62 tonnes in August, 22% below July and 27% below August 2025. The World Gold Council sets the month against the 2016–2025 monthly average for Shanghai Gold Exchange withdrawals and describes the fall as unseasonal. The same update puts China’s net gold imports for July at 118 tonnes, 34 tonnes below June and 34% above July 2025, on China Customs data recorded under HS heading 7108.
HS heading 7108 covers gold in unwrought, semi-manufactured and powder form, which takes in cast and minted bars; coins are classified under heading 7118 and jewellery under heading 7113, and neither enters the 118-tonne figure. Hong Kong is a separate customs territory whose trade is recorded by its Census and Statistics Department, so bars held in Hong Kong vaults stay outside the China Customs figure until they are shipped into the mainland. Gold imported into mainland China requires a permit from the People’s Bank of China, and China Customs clears imports against that permit. A release instruction naming a consignee in mainland China therefore depends on an importer holding a People’s Bank of China import permit, whichever carrier is authorised to move the bars.
The 62-tonne figure counts metal withdrawn from vaults designated by the Shanghai Gold Exchange, whether it entered those vaults as imports or as output of refineries in mainland China. The Shanghai Gold Exchange’s Au99.99 spot contract settles in 1 kg bars of 999.9 fineness, while an LBMA Good Delivery bar contains 350–430 fine troy ounces at a minimum fineness of 995.0. A Good Delivery bar reaches the Au99.99 contract only after a refinery, commonly in Switzerland, refines or recasts it into kilobars bearing a new refiner mark and new serial numbers, and the original serial number no longer corresponds to a bar.
The World Gold Council compiles the update from Shanghai Gold Exchange data to 31 August 2026 and China Customs data to July 2026, so the withdrawal and import declines are records of different months.