World
China's Gold Streak Hits 18 Months. Its Treasury Math Is Murkier.
The PBOC's 18-month gold streak is the documented half of China's reserve shift. The other half is a $41 billion March Treasury decline and what Russia learned in February 2022 about reserves held in someone else's accounts.
China's Treasury holdings fell to $652.3 billion in March, per TIC data published May 15, the lowest since September 2008.
The one-month decline was $41 billion, from $693.3 billion in February, as the 10-year Treasury yield ended the month at 4.38%. SAFE's April 7 statement attributed the broader $85.7 billion reserve fall to "combined effects of currency translation and changes in asset prices." How much of China's $41 billion reflects price markdown rather than active sales is not disclosed.
The gold number carries no such ambiguity. The PBOC added 8 tonnes in April, the largest single-month purchase since December 2024, extending an unbroken streak to 18 consecutive months. Holdings now stand at 2,322 tonnes, worth roughly $344 billion.
That is 9% of China's $3.8 trillion in reserves. The US holds 8,133 tonnes at 83% of its reserve pool and Germany 3,350 tonnes at 84%, but both figures are high because neither country runs large foreign-currency holdings.
The buying restarted in November 2024, the month Trump won re-election. It ran unbroken through US tariffs on Chinese goods hitting 10% in February 2025, then 104% in April, and continued through the partial pause in May.
The Russia comparison changes the math on how to read those 18 months. In February 2022, G7 sanctions froze roughly $300 billion of Moscow's Western-held reserves, leaving its domestic gold vaults untouched. China's $652 billion in Treasuries lives in Western custodial accounts; 2,322 tonnes of gold in Beijing sits outside any clearing system that can be compelled.
Watch the April TIC data, due June 15. The September 2008 floor is $618.2 billion, $34 billion below March's reading. One month at March's pace goes through it.