Russian precious metal sales to China up 80% to $1 billion in H1 2025

Russia’s precious metals exports to China nearly doubled in value during the first half of 2025, according to the latest trade data.

“Chinese imports of Russian precious metal ores and concentrates, including gold and silver, jumped 80% to $1 billion from the same period a year earlier,” Bloomberg reported Monday, citing data from Trade Data Monitor and China’s customs office. “Bullion prices have climbed about 28% this year, boosted by heightened geopolitical risks and trade tensions, alongside buying by central banks and exchange-traded funds.”

Russia is the world’s number-two gold producer – second only to China – with an annual output of over 300 tonnes. Russia’s central bank was also one of the world’s biggest sovereign gold buyers, but its purchases have fallen off since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The People’s Bank of China continues to be among the leading central bank buyers in recent years.

Russia’s gold exports to China are up in volume terms, but much of the difference is also due to the gold price rally over the last 12 months, with spot prices rising nearly 43% over the last 12 months.

The country’s gold miners are also supporting rising domestic retail demand, which hit a record high last year as Russians clamored for precious metals to protect the value of their savings. Russian consumers purchased 75.6 tonnes of gold in 2024, representing approximately 25% of the country’s annual production.

The more recent rally in other precious metals has also boosted revenues among Russia’s top miners. “MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, one of the world’s top producers of palladium and platinum, has ramped up exports to China this year,” the report noted. “Prices for the two metals jumped 38% and 59%, respectively, this year.”

Russia has been making waves in precious metals markets since sanctions that followed their invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have forced the country to rely ever more heavily on precious metals, crypto, and other alternative assets. Last week, journalist Tim Treadgold reported that silver price may be benefiting from undeclared but substantial buying by Russia’s central bank.

He noted that while official data is difficult to come by, the silver price has outperformed gold ever since Russia announced at the end of September that it plans to add silver to its State Reserve Fund for the first time.

“Part of the reason for silver’s 30.6% rise since early January compared with gold’s 27.5% increase is a simple case of silver trying to catch up with gold, which has been a commodity sector star for the past three years,” Treadgold said. “There are also signs that the investors have hit the pause button on gold, which has more than doubled since 2022, driven initially by central bank buying, with private investors later entering the market.”

Treadgold suggested that Russia’s BRICS partners, including China, India, and Brazil, may also be on board with their strategy of precious metals accumulation in order to move away from the use of the U.S. dollar in their international trade.

“Part of the BRICs plan is to accumulate gold as they look for a way to bypass the dollar, though with the gold price hovering close to an all-time high, that action has been hugely expensive,” he said. “Silver, which has always been seen as an alternative to gold even to the point of acquiring an unkind nickname of the poor man’s gold, might enable members of the BRIC group to push on with their plan to break free of the dollar.”

Other factors supporting silver’s investment appeal are strong industrial demand – primarily from green energy and electronics sectors – along with its use in jewelry as a gold substitute in markets where the yellow metal is seen as too expensive.

“But the biggest factor at work in the silver market today appears to be investment demand with the metal increasingly seen as a gold substitute, along with platinum, another precious metal with a growing investment following and a rising price,” he wrote.

“There has been no further news since Russia’s central bank last year announced that it would add silver to the country’s precious metal reserves dominated by gold and platinum,” Treadgold said. “But the relatively strong performance recently by silver compared with gold could be an indication of increasing central bank activity in the silver market.”

On Sept. 30, 2024, the Russian government revealed it is looking to spend as much as 51 billion rubles ($535.5 million) over the next three years to increase its precious metals reserves.

The reports stem from a line item in the government’s Draft Federal Budget, published on Sept 30. While gold has been an important asset in foreign reserves, the proposal indicates that the Russian government is looking to expand its holdings to include silver and platinum group metals.

“The formation of a reserve of refined precious metals as part of the State Fund of Russia will help ensure a balanced federal budget and stable economic development, as well as meet the industrial needs of the Russian Federation in the event of an emergency,” the Ministry of Finance was quoted in an article by Interfax.

The draft budget did not include details regarding a potential purchasing program, but some analysts suggested that silver’s inclusion in foreign reserves could generate new investor interest, reestablishing it as an official monetary metal.

And on Oct. 24 – less than a month after the announcement of the new strategic silver and PGM reserve – Russia proposed that BRICS member countries create their own precious metals exchange in a move that could upend the long-established international pricing mechanisms for gold, silver, platinum, and other precious metals.

The news came on the heels of the Oct. 23 declaration adopted by the leaders of the BRICS countries supporting an increase in the exchange of precious metals between members on the basis of common product quality standards.

The following day, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation made its own official announcement.

“The creation of a mechanism for trading metals within the BRICS countries will lead to the formation of fair and equitable competition based on exchange principles,” the Ministry said in a release.

“The mechanism will include the creation of instruments for price indicators for metals, standards for the production and trade of bullion, accreditation of market participants, clearing and auditing within the BRICS countries,” said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, “and the participating countries will have a reliable way of stable exchange trading within the association.”

The Finance Ministry added that they expect the BRICS Precious Metals Exchange “will become a key regulator of prices for precious metals.”