Mainland doubles gold imports from Hong Kong in July on strong demand

The mainland's gold imports from Hong Kong almost doubled in July from a year earlier, official figures show.

Imports of the precious metal in the first seven months of the year were more than four times as high as in the same period last year, supporting industry expectations that gold consumption on the mainland will overtake India's this year.

Mainland imports of bullion from Hong Kong surged to 75.84 tonnes in July from 38.14 tonnes last year, according to net export data released by the Census and Statistics Department on Friday. For the first seven months of the year, imports jumped to 456.3 tonnes from 100.5 tonnes a year earlier.

In terms of net imports from Hong Kong, the July volume rose 27.3 per cent year on year to 45.97 tonnes.

For the first seven months, mainland net imports from Hong Kong totalled 298.97 tonnes, up from 84.04 tonnes a year earlier.

Unlike base metals such as copper and aluminium, the mainland does not report its trade figures for gold, which is held as part of the central bank's reserves.