Gold Demand Trends: Q1 2026

Central bank gold demand began 2026 strongly, with estimated net purchases of 244t in Q1.¹ Demand exceeded both the previous quarter and the five-year average, underscoring continued commitment to strengthening reserves with gold.

During the quarter, central banks had to contend with heightened uncertainty on multiple fronts. The conflict involving Iran, the US and Israel added to an already fraught geoeconomic environment, driving greater volatility across markets including gold.

Continued central bank gold demand against this backdrop underscores the broadly strategic nature of their purchases and continued confidence in gold’s role as a store of value during periods of uncertainty.

Nonetheless, this environment likely contributed to the uptick in sales reported during the quarter, with gold performing its role as indispensable reserve asset that is accessible during times of extreme market turbulence.

Reported purchases during the quarter were largely driven by established participants:

The National Bank of Poland was once again the largest purchaser, increasing its gold reserves by 31t over the quarter to 582t. Despite recent statements from Governor Adam Glapiński about the possibility of selling some of its gold, the central bank appears to remain focused on reaching its 700t target.²

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan added 25t to its gold reserves during the quarter, lower than its Q4’25 net purchases of 29t. The latest buying lifts its gold holdings to 416t, representing 87% of the bank’s total reserves.

The People’s Bank of China increased its gold reserves by 7t in Q1, more than doubling its net purchase in the previous quarter (3t). This lifts the PBoC’s total gold reserves to 2,313t (9% of total reserves).

Other buyers included the National Bank of Kazakhstan (12t), Czech National Bank (5t), Bank Negara Malaysia (5t), Bank of Guatemala (2t), National Bank of Cambodia (2t), Bank Indonesia (2t), National Bank of Serbia (1t) and the Central Bank of the UAE (1t).

Beyond reported purchases, unreported buying remained elevated in the quarter.³ This points to continued sizeable activity that has yet to be disclosed, a trend that has been in place since 2022.

Q1 saw the emergence of market concerns regarding potential widespread central bank selling, sparked by reports of sizable sales by Turkey and Russia. Data available at the time of writing identifies 115t of gold sales reported by central banks and SWFs – a notable increase compared with recent history, but offset by continued strong buying. 

The largest seller of gold in Q1 was Turkey, where official sector holdings fell around 70t (approximately 10% of total official sector holdings) based on available reported data.⁴ The bulk of the sales came in March, with the bank utilising an additional 80t via gold swaps for FX and liquidity purposes during the same month. Governor Fatih Karahan noted that: “a significant part of these transactions are in the nature of gold-currency swap futures. In other words, when it matures, the gold in question will return to our reserves.”⁵ At present, these sales appear to be tactical in nature, with holdings having stabilised around 535t during April. There is precedent in both 2020 and 2023, when Turkey employed its substantial gold holdings in times of need.

In its Q1 report, the State Oil fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) announced a 22t sale, partially reversing the 53t purchased during 2025 and taking gold holdings to 178t. This was matched by a 22t sale announced by the Central Bank of Russia. Another smaller, but noteworthy, sale (1t) was announced by the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic.⁶ The Bulgarian National Bank transferred 2t of gold to the European Central Bank in January as part of its adoption of the euro.

It is worth clarifying that, as central banks often report their activity with a lag, the data reported in GDT include partial estimates, with purchases or sales sometimes reported after publication. This can result in revisions to the data in the same vein as for all the other data series in our demand and supply model. The quarterly figure reflects all available information and informed estimation of unreported activity, but the current environment of heightened geoeconomic uncertainty and more volatile gold prices may, therefore, increase the potential for future revisions.

Based on the strong start to the year, we expect central banks to contribute meaningfully to global gold demand going forward, as geoeconomic uncertainty stays elevated and reserve-diversification incentives remain intact. For more details on our latest expectations for central bank gold demand in 2026, please see the Outlook section.