"The last time
we
looked at monthly Chinese imports of gold from Hong Kong in 2012, the
comparable country in question was Portugal (whose citizens, if not central
bank, incidentally have
run out of
gold to sell), because that is whose total gold holdings (at 382.5 tons)
Chinese imports had just surpassed. Fast forward a month later, and the update
is even more disturbing. In July, Chinese gold imports from HK, after two months
of declines, have picked up once more and hit a 3-month high of 75.8 tons. While
it is notable that this number is double the 38.1 tons imported a year prior,
and that year-to-date imports are now a record 458.6 tons, well over four times
greater than the seven month total in 2011 which was 103.9 tons, what is far
more important is that in the first seven months of 2012 alone China has
imported nearly as much gold as the total holdings of the hedge fund at the
heart of the Eurozone, elsewhere known simply as the European Central Bank, and
just as importantly considering the import run-rate has hardly slowed down in
August, which data we will have in a few weeks,
it is now safe to say
that in 2012 alone China has imported more gold than the ECB's entire official
502.1 tons of holdings.
What is most amusing is that China, via the IMF, still wants the world to
believe that total Chinese official holdings are just 1040 tons (double the
ECB's), when it has imported half this amount in 2012 alone.
at
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/name-new-reserve-currency-china-imports-more-gold-2012-all-ecb-holdings
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