China's gold output back to pre-pandemic level

The China Gold Association says the country's gold output in the first quarter of 2023 has recovered to pre-Covid 19 levels, with total production around 64 tonnes. China produced 372 tonnes in 2022; the record was in 2016, when officially it produced more than 453 tonnes. China claims to have some 2,068 tonnes of gold in the reserves of its central bank, but analysts suspect the figure is several times larger. Since 2000 China officially has mined more than 6,830 tonnes of gold.

China is a leading proponent of the current de-dollarization charge, i.e. eliminating the US currency from its position as the international reserve currency. The BRICS group (comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have signalled their intention to develop an alternative to the Dollar; the South African ambassador to the BRICS group says there are 19 applications to join the emerging-markets bloc. China's gross domestic product (GDP) is more than twice as large of the four other BRICS members combined.

Countries have observed how the US has 'weaponized' the Dollar through sanctions imposed on Russia; the gold market has become excited about the possibility – remote right now – that an enlarged BRICS group could be preparing to embrace gold as the international currency.