As per statistics for the first quarter of 2016.
by Warren Dick
Mine Web
It seems it’s not just private and institutional investors that have been loading up on gold in the first quarter of 2016, but also central banks, as revealed by the World Gold Council’s statistical release published on Monday.
[…] As can be seen from the graph above, the three biggest net buyers were the central banks of China, Kazakhstan and Russia, with Russia sourcing most of its gold from its domestic market. Russia’s 45 tonnes equates to 1.47 million ounces, or roughly the entire 2015 production of Sibanye Gold.
The Chinese central bank’s voracious appetite for the yellow metal was sustained in the first quarter of the year. Looking back a few months seems to indicate the bank bought 145 tonnes of gold over the last year which translates to three years of production at Sibanye. Hardly a hobby!