Central bank gold buying: Poland and China step up

Key points

• Central banks reported 39 t of net gold purchases in August and 170 t over the first eight months of 2026
• China's central bank added about 23 t in September, its 23rd monthly increase in a row
• Poland bought an estimated 25 t or more in September, worth about $3.35bn at Friday's close on our numbers

Central bank gold buying picked up as prices fell. The People's Bank of China added about 23 t in September, and Poland's central bank bought more than 25 t, its biggest month in a year and a half by one estimate. Gold is down 3.8% over the past month on our price data, and both kept buying.

Why it matters: The two biggest official buyers added more metal on a falling price. For anyone holding gold, that is a source of demand that does not move with Fed meetings or ETF sentiment, and it has not slowed this autumn.

What the August figures show

Central banks reported 39 t of net buying in August, according to the World Gold Council's monthly count of official disclosures. That takes reported purchases for the year through August to 170 t. The count covers only what banks disclose, so any unreported buying is missing from it.

China led the month with 20 t. Uzbekistan and Poland came next with 8 t each, and Turkey bought 3 t after three straight months as a seller.

Two banks sold. Russia was the largest seller at 6 t and Jordan let go of 3 t. Poland, with 98 t bought since January, is still the biggest buyer of 2026 so far.

For more on who buys and why, see our central bank gold demand report.

Did China buy more gold in September?

Yes, and at a faster pace. The PBOC said its reserves stood at 77.47 million troy ounces at the end of September, up 740,000 oz from a month earlier. On the bank's own ounce figures that is about 23 t, the 23rd monthly addition since buying resumed.

The PBOC's figures also show what the price fall did to the value of its pile: about $324bn at the end of September, down from about $350bn at the end of August. The bank bought anyway, as it did in our earlier look at China's central bank gold buying over Golden Week.

Poland closes in on 700 t

Governor Adam Glapinski said the National Bank of Poland held close to 673 t of gold at the end of September. Bankier.pl, a Polish financial news site, estimated that the bank bought more than 25 t during the month, the most in 19 months. The NBP plans to publish the official September figure on 21 October.

Our figure: at Friday's New York close of about $4,166 an ounce, 25 t of gold is worth about $3.35bn. Poland's 632 t at the end of June, the seventh-largest national holding on TradingEconomics data, was worth about $85bn at the same price.

The NBP board set its 700 t target on 20 January 2026. At 673 t, Warsaw is about 27 t short, roughly one more month at September's pace.

Who bought the most in the second quarter?

Poland, by a wide margin. It added 51 t in the second quarter, against 33 t for China, according to the council's Gold Demand Trends figures in our reserves table.

China holds almost four times as much gold as Poland, so the same tonnage moves Poland's reserves far more. A 25 t month adds about 4% to Warsaw's June holdings and about 1% to Beijing's.

What to watch

• 21 Oct: the NBP's official September reserve figure, which will confirm or revise the 25 t estimate
• 22 Oct: Turkey's central bank policy decision, after the bank returned to buying gold in August