Gold consumption in China drops despite higher domestic output

BEIJING: China’s gold production edged up in 2025 while overall consumption declined, amid a shift from jewelry toward investment products.

The country produced 381.339 tonnes of gold last year, up 1.09 percent year on year, while output from imported raw materials rose 8.81 percent to 170.681 tonnes, data published by (Xinhua) from the China Gold Association showed on Thursday.

The association said that a number of exploration, development, and technology projects had achieved phased breakthroughs in 2025.

On the consumption side, gold consumption totaled 950.096 tonnes last year, down 3.57 percent from a year earlier, as jewelry demand fell sharply while purchases of gold bars and coins jumped, marking the first instance of annual investment gold levels overtaking jewelry consumption in China.

Trading activity related to gold surged across domestic markets, with total gold turnover rising strongly on both the Shanghai Gold Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange, reflecting heightened participation within a context of elevated prices.

Higher prices also drove robust inflows into gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which added 133.118 tonnes during the year, surging 149.91 percent from the volume recorded in 2024 and lifting total ETF holdings to 247.852 tonnes by the end of December, according to the data