Central banks are still stacking gold even after prices eased from their spring highs. The World Gold Council says official buyers took in a record haul for a second quarter, and monthly filings through August show China and Poland still adding to their piles.
That official demand is the quiet floor under the market. For investors, it supports gold miners that are turning high prices into cash, with Newmont reporting third-quarter results on Oct. 22. For households, the same prices that help miners are squeezing jewelry budgets and making a small gold allocation feel more expensive to start.
- World Gold Council: central banks and other official institutions bought about 289 tonnes of gold in the second quarter, up 62% from a year earlier and a record for any second quarter.
- World Gold Council monthly filings: reported net official buying was 23 tonnes in July and 39 tonnes in August; China added 20 tonnes in each of those months, its 22nd straight month of purchases by August.
- International Monetary Fund: the U.S. dollar's share of global foreign-exchange reserves slipped to 56.70% in the second quarter from 57.18% in the first, as euro and other currency holdings rose.
Official buying bounced back in the second quarter
After a weak start to the year, official demand snapped back. Net purchases by central banks and other official institutions reached about 289 tonnes in the second quarter, five times the World Gold Council's revised first-quarter estimate of 57 tonnes and the strongest second quarter on record. First-half official demand of 345 tonnes was still the lowest first half since 2022, largely because of heavy first-quarter selling by Turkey, Russia and Azerbaijan's state oil fund.
Poland led reported buying in the second quarter with 51 tonnes, lifting its gold reserves to 632 tonnes by the end of June and edging closer to its 700-tonne target. China added 33 tonnes in the quarter, its largest quarterly addition since late 2023, bringing first-half purchases to 40 tonnes and reported holdings to 2,346 tonnes. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Jordan and the Czech Republic also showed up as notable buyers.
The Council's annual survey of reserve managers, released in June, helps explain why the buying keeps going. A record 45% of respondents said they expect to increase their own gold holdings over the next 12 months, and 89% expect global central-bank gold holdings to keep rising. Diversification, crisis performance and geopolitics topped the reasons, not short-term price trading.
Summer filings show the streak is intact
Monthly International Monetary Fund and national-bank filings compiled by the World Gold Council show the pattern held into late summer. Reported net official buying was 23 tonnes in July and 39 tonnes in August. Through August, reported year-to-date purchases totaled about 170 tonnes.
China was the standout. The People's Bank of China added 20 tonnes in July and another 20 tonnes in August, stretching a buying streak to 22 consecutive months. By the end of August its reported gold reserves were about 2,387 tonnes, or roughly 9% of its total reserves. Poland added 8 tonnes in each of those months, taking year-to-date purchases to 98 tonnes and total holdings to about 648 tonnes. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan also kept buying.
Not every central bank is accumulating. Russia continued modest sales, and Turkey was a large seller earlier in the year before turning to a small August purchase. The bigger picture still looks like a multi-year diversification program, not a one-quarter trade.
What the price environment means for miners
High gold prices are flowing through to the companies that dig it up. The World Gold Council put the average LBMA afternoon gold price at about $4,506 an ounce in the second quarter, 8% below the first-quarter record but 37% higher than a year earlier. That is the kind of multi-quarter level that lifts miner cash flow even when jewelry volumes soften.
Newmont, the largest gold producer and the only pure gold name in the S&P 500, produced about 1.3 million attributable gold ounces in the second quarter and generated a record second-quarter free cash flow of $2.2 billion, according to its July earnings release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All-in sustaining costs on a gold by-product basis were $1,621 an ounce. Management said the company returned $1.9 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks since its prior earnings call and ended June with $9.0 billion of cash.
Newmont will release third-quarter results after the North American close on Oct. 22, with a call at 5:30 p.m. Eastern the same day. Barrick is scheduled to report on Nov. 9. The numbers to watch are free cash flow, sustaining costs and how much capital goes back to shareholders versus new projects.
Households feel the other side of the price
The same price that fattens miner cash flow is hard on jewelry buyers. World Gold Council data show jewelry consumption fell to 278 tonnes in the second quarter, the lowest quarterly volume since the pandemic, even though spending on gold jewelry rose 14% to about $40 billion. People are buying less metal and paying more for what they do buy.
Bar and coin investment held near 307 tonnes, roughly in line with a year earlier, after two unusually strong quarters. Gold-backed exchange-traded funds saw about 45 tonnes of outflows in the second quarter as prices cooled from the spring peak. That split is worth remembering: official buyers and some long-term holders keep adding, while price-sensitive jewelry and short-term ETF flows move with the tape.
On financial Twitter and gold forums, the debate is familiar. One camp treats gold as insurance against geopolitics and currency diversification, pointing to the central-bank survey. The other asks whether households should wait for a deeper pullback before adding coins, bars or a small fund position. Both sides are reacting to the same fact: official buying has become a structural feature of this market.
What investors should watch
The next World Gold Council Gold Demand Trends report, covering the third quarter, is due in early November and will show whether the summer buying pace held. Until then, monthly central-bank filings and the big miner prints are the cleanest checks. Newmont on Oct. 22 and Barrick on Nov. 9 will show how much of the high-price environment is still converting into free cash flow after sustaining capital and royalties.
Risks are real. If gold prices fall sharply, jewelry demand may recover but miner margins will shrink. If a few large emerging-market buyers pause, monthly totals can look soft even when the multi-year diversification story is intact. And gold miners are leveraged to the metal, so they can move more than the bullion price when sentiment turns.
What it means for your household
If you already own some gold, the official-buying story is a reminder that the buyer base is broader than traders and jewelry shops. If you are thinking about starting a small allocation, focus on the role, not a single price print: a modest position for diversification is different from trying to time every swing. For jewelry, shop around, consider lighter designs, and treat big purchases as discretionary, not urgent.
The bottom line is that central-bank gold buying remains a durable multi-year trend, not a one-quarter blip. Official demand bounced back to a record second quarter, summer filings show China and Poland still accumulating, and high prices are funding miner cash returns while squeezing household jewelry budgets. This article is general information, not personalized financial advice.
