China is expanding a global network of gold vaults and accelerating central bank gold purchases as Beijing seeks to strengthen the yuan’s role in international trade, according to an S&P Global Ratings report published on Tuesday.
The strategy combines greater official gold accumulation with efforts to expand China’s influence over physical gold markets beyond the mainland. The report said China’s gold miners are also expected to grow faster than many international competitors after Beijing reclassified gold from a financial asset to a “strategic mineral” in 2025.
“If you are trading in renminbi, there’s always a question as to how you are going to use the renminbi,” said Charles Chang, greater China country lead, corporates, at S&P Global Ratings. “But if that renminbi is convertible to gold, then that’s a potentially different picture. Gold is tradeable. It is usable in a lot of places.”
China launched its first offshore gold delivery vault in Hong Kong last year under an agreement with the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), with Bank of China (Hong Kong) serving as the designated operator. The move was accompanied by the SGE’s listing of two new yuan-denominated gold contracts, which can be settled either through physical delivery or cash settlement.
The offshore vault is the first element of a broader network that China is considering in major international gold trading centres. The report identified Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Riyadh and Moscow among the cities under consideration for additional vaults.
“The network offers connectivity to the world’s largest physical gold market,” Chang said. “It could also attract countries looking to diversify, onshore or nearshore their gold storage to enhance control.”
The proposed network would give international participants additional links to China’s physical gold market while potentially supporting countries seeking greater control over where their gold is stored. The initiative therefore connects the expansion of yuan-denominated gold trading with a wider effort to strengthen China’s position in the global gold system.
China’s official gold holdings have continued to rise, although they remain relatively small as a share of total official reserves. S&P Global Ratings data showed that China ranked sixth globally in gold reserves, behind the US, France, Italy, Germany and Russia.
Chang said the ranking pointed to “sentiment for further build-up through purchases or production” as international tensions and conflicts continued to arise. As of the end of July, China’s gold reserves stood at 76.08 million ounces, marking the 21st consecutive month of accumulation.
The push is also being reinforced by government policy and the expansion of Chinese mining companies overseas. Last year, nine top government departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, published an industrial outline aimed at improving the security, capacity, operations, innovation, scale and mine resources of the gold industry.
Strong domestic demand for gold bars and coins, combined with government support, has also encouraged Chinese miners to pursue overseas mergers and acquisitions.
Zijin Gold International, a unit of Zijin Mining, acquired two profitable mines in Ghana and Kazakhstan over the past year. The acquisitions helped drive the company’s first-half net profit up 179 per cent year on year to US$1.45 billion in 2026.
However, China’s overseas expansion is also facing tighter scrutiny. In late July, Zijin Mining terminated a planned takeover of Canada’s Allied Gold Corp, instead taking a 9.2 per cent minority stake for about US$295 million amid Beijing’s tightening scrutiny of outbound overseas investments.
Taken together, the vault network, rising official gold holdings and overseas mining expansion point to a coordinated effort to deepen China’s role in gold markets while creating greater international utility for the yuan.
