China's Growing Appetite For Russian Gold

EDITOR'S NOTE: Lots of maneuvering going on between China and Russia, and it extends beyond matters of trade and military coordination. The movement under the surface, one can argue, digs beneath the enervated foundations of Western monetary value; beneath the hegemonic cast of dollar and dust. China covered over 60% of Russian gold last year as imports. This article details the specs of this tremendous transfer. This gold affair is a one-way street, with Russia not reciprocating any trade back into its country, making up for the deficit felt by Russia by current bans on Russian gold by many countries. What this might mean (or what it indicates) for the two countries and their BRICS allies is still up in the air. But beneath its subtlety is a move that’s likely to launch an aggressive advance against the dollar, its global status, and its alliances.

Imports of the precious metal surged over 60% last year

China stepped up imports of gold from Russia in 2022, data released by the country’s customs agency on Saturday showed.

Last year, China bought a total of 6.6 tons of Russian gold, worth a record $386.9 million, including shipments in both unprocessed (3.7 tons) and semi-processed form (2.9 tons).

In December alone, gold shipments from Russia to China totaled 220.2 kilograms, worth $14.85 million.

Overall, Russian gold exports to the Asian nation soared by 67.3% in physical terms and by 63.3% in monetary terms from 2021.

However, so far Russia’s share in Chinese gold purchases remains small. The main supplier of gold to China is Switzerland, with sales in 2021 totaling over $34 billion. Rounding out the top five suppliers to China are Canada, South Africa, Australia, and Hong Kong.

Russian gold exports began to fall under Western sanctions in mid-2022. The EU, UK, US, Japan, and Canada banned the purchase, import or transfer, directly or indirectly, of gold originating in Russia and exported from the country. Prior to sanctions, the UK was the largest buyer of Russian gold, having acquired 266.1 tons of the metal (88% of total exports), worth $15.4 billion, in 2021.

Originally published at RT