Central banks ramp up yellow metal purchases

In the first quarter of 2021, the main financial regulators acquired 333.2 tons of gold, which is 39% more than the average over the past 5 years. In the second quarter, they bought almost 200 tons of precious metal. Most of all, the gold reserve increased in Thailand, Hungary and Brazil: in general, by 214 tons.

Brazil replenished its reserves by 62 tons. The key point in this event was the speed of buying yellow metal. The country's bank bought a record volume of precious metal in just three months. Currently, 130 tons of precious metal are in state storage.

According to the World Gold Council, global demand for yellow metal products in the first quarter of 2021 decreased by 11%, to 1833.1 tons compared to the same figure in 2020. In the second quarter of this year, demand amounted to 955.1 tons. This is only 1% lower than last year. The volume of purchases of jewelry in the first quarter amounted to 873.7 tons, which is 17% lower than the average of 2019. In the second quarter, the figure rose to 390.7 tons, an increase of 60% year on year. The total global demand for bullion and coins was 594.5 tons in the first quarter of 2021. This is the highest sales of gold investment products since 2013. In the second quarter, demand reached 243.8 tons, an increase of 56% compared to the same period last year.

Since the beginning of this year, sales of gold products in Egypt have increased significantly - by 58.5% year on year, reaching 14.9 tons. The demand for gold jewelry in the country amounted to 13.6 tons, an increase of 58% compared to 2020 (8.6 tons). The volume of demand for gold bullion and coins increased to 1.2 tons. This is 33.3% higher than in the same period of 2020 (0.9 tons).