China Is About to Reveal How Much Gold They Really Have

In recent years, China has been buying up gold at an unprecedented rate. The last time they gave the world an official count in 2009, they had 1054.1 tons of gold. But, nowadays, nobody really believes that number.

In 2012 alone, China imported 834 tons of gold, which increased to a mind-blowing 1,108 tons in 2013. And that’s not counting the amount they mine every year. China is now the world’s largest gold producer, at a staggering 437 tons annually.

It’s hard to say how much of that gold is being bought by private citizens, and how much is being gobbled up by the government. But one thing’s for sure, China has way more reserves than they’re letting on. If the world knew how much they were buying, the price would probably go through the roof. They want to buy as much as they can now while the price is still low.

But that may change soon. At the behest of the IMF, China may have to reveal how much heavier their treasure chest has become over the past 6 years.

As part of the IMF’s plan to bring the yuan into the basket of reserve currencies, IMF officials want Chinese authorities to provide an update on the quantity of gold squirreled away inside China’s vaults. That news, when it’s released, will be a wake-up call to the world. It will underscore the degree to which sovereign governments outside America value gold, and it will send the price of gold higher as global investors and savers comprehend the ramifications of the number China ultimately reports.

3,510 tons of gold.

That’s the estimate of China’s gold holdings that’s currently floating around the media. If that turns out to be the true figure, it would be more than three times the 1,054 tons of gold that China last reported officially in 2009.

That whisper number, I believe, is much too light.

Based on the quantity of gold China mines each year — it’s the world’s largest gold producer — and on the reported quantities of gold flowing into the country through Hong Kong and Switzerland, I calculate that China more realistically owns somewhere between 5,000 tons and possibly as much as 11,000 tons of gold.

I’d have to agree. Based on their production and imports, their reserves were estimated to be well over 3000 tons in 2013. But their import and production levels have been skyrocketing year after year, even as the price per ounce continued to drop. 5,000 tons would be a reasonable estimate at this time, and would put them a stone’s throw away from America’s 8,133.5 tons.

But considering the fact that the United States government was so reluctant to repatriate Germany’s gold last year, many have questioned how much gold our government truly has. Time will tell if China is about surpass the United States’ gold reserve.

On a final note, isn’t it interesting that the IMF wants to know how much gold China has? They want the Yuan to join their basket of fiat currencies. Why on Earth would they care about the gold? The establishment has been telling us for years that gold is not money, and yet now they need an audit of China’s gold reserves so that they can value their currency? That’s some strange logic if you ask me.

Joshua Krause is a reporter, writer and researcher at The Daily Sheeple, where this article first appeared. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and is a freelance writer and author. You can follow Joshua’s reports at Facebook or on his personal Twitter. Joshua’s website is Strange Danger.