CaratA record second quarter, the weakest half since 2022
Central banks bought 289 tonnes of gold in the second quarter, up 62% and a record for any second quarter. The first half still totalled 345 tonnes, the smallest since 2022, because the first quarter collapsed to 57.
§1Two true statements.
The official sector produced two true statements about the same six months, and they point in opposite directions. Central banks bought a net 289 tonnes of gold in the second quarter of 2026, according to the World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends published on July 30. That is 62% above the 177.9 tonnes bought in the second quarter of 2025 and a record for any second quarter on the council's numbers. It is also a fivefold jump from the first quarter, which was revised down to 57 tonnes. Add the two together and the first half comes to 345 tonnes, the smallest first half since 2022.
Poland did the heavy lifting. The National Bank of Poland was the largest single buyer in the quarter at 51 tonnes, taking its first-half purchases to 82 tonnes as it works toward a self-set reserve target of roughly 700 tonnes. The People's Bank of China added 33 tonnes, its largest quarterly addition since the fourth quarter of 2023, lifting reported holdings to 2,346 tonnes against a first-half total of only 40. Uzbekistan took 16 tonnes, Kazakhstan 15, and Jordan and the Czech Republic 6 each.
§2Poland did the lifting.
The sellers are the part the headline rate conceals. The Bank of Russia sold 22 tonnes, the largest disposal of the quarter, with reporting attributing it to a federal budget deficit rather than to any view on the metal. Turkey sold 4 tonnes and reduced its swap position from more than 80 tonnes to around 60. The Bundesbank sold 1. None of these is a strategic exit, but the netting is what turns a strong gross quarter into a merely respectable half, and it is why the 289 tonne figure should not be read as the run rate.
Add the two together and the first half comes to 345 tonnes, the smallest first half since 2022.
§3The sellers the rate conceals.
For the jewellery trade the official sector matters because it sets the floor the counter has to buy above. Central banks bought this gold into a price that has fallen for most of the year and a quarter in which jewellery demand hit a post-pandemic low of 278 tonnes. That is the whole tension of 2026 in one report: the institutions accumulated on weakness while the retail buyer withdrew on price. The council's own survey of reserve managers has 89% expecting official holdings to rise over the next twelve months.
A record second quarter and the weakest first half since 2022 are the same data set read at two different lengths, and the trade should quote the longer one. The quarterly figure flatters because the first quarter was unusually bad, and revisions to official sector data have been running large enough in both directions to make any single quarter a poor guide. What survives at half-year length is steadier and more useful: the official sector is still a net buyer at pace, Poland and China are the marginal demand, and Russia is selling for reasons that have nothing to do with gold.
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The smallest jewellery quarter since the pandemic.