Hong Kong Accelerates Role as Global Gold Hub
Hong Kong has accelerated efforts this year to position itself as a global gold hub, including launching a clearing and settlement system modelled on the London Bullion Market Association. The city has also become a conduit for Russian bullion after sanctions curtailed Russia’s access to Western financial markets. Hong Kong imported a record 112.7 tonnes of Russian gold in the first seven months of 2026, exceeding the 92.1 tonnes recorded across all of 2025 and far above the 3.3 tonnes imported in 2021. Russian bullion made up nearly 15% of Hong Kong’s non-monetary gold imports over those seven months, up from 0.6% in 2021, following LBMA suspensions of all six Russian gold and silver refiners and wider Western restrictions on Russian gold.
Russian Supply Capacity and Reserve Management
Supply capacity remains ample: Russia was the second-largest gold producer in 2025, with mines yielding around 345 tonnes, while the Russian central bank sold 56 tonnes through August. Parallel reserve management has also reshaped flows. From 2014, the Bank of Russia increased reserves by around 40 million ounces (1,244 tonnes) over six years, when gold traded between $1,100 and $1,500 an ounce; before the war it also shifted the National Welfare Fund into yuan (60%) and gold (40%). With about half of reserves then in dollars, euros and pound sterling, and the rest in yuan and gold, Hong Kong’s gateway role into mainland China—an end-market that has not sanctioned Russian gold—has gained further commercial weight.
