Gold Demand Trends: Q3 2025

Central banks pick up buying pace in Q3

• Central banks bought a net 220t in Q3, 28% more than in the previous quarter¹
• Y-t-d demand trails the last three years, but is well above the pre-2022 average
• The National Bank of Kazakhstan was the largest buyer in Q3, while the Central Bank of Brazil added gold for the first time since 2021.

Central banks remained a firm pillar of demand for gold in Q3, increasing their buying pace following two consecutive quarters of slowing purchases. They bought an estimated net 220t of gold in the quarter, 28% higher than the Q2 total and 6% above the five-year quarterly average.

While the substantial increase in the gold price this year (up ~50% y-t-d² to new record highs) was likely a limiting factor on the scale of purchases initially, the pick-up in demand in the latest quarter is evidence that central banks continue to add gold strategically, despite facing higher prices.

This reinforces the findings from our Central Bank Gold Survey 2025, in which respondents indicated a strong intention to increase their gold reserves in the year ahead.

On a y-t-d basis central banks have now added 634t to their reserves, below the same period in the three preceding years but well above the pre-2022 annual average of 400-500t.³ Although it appears increasingly unlikely that 2025 annual demand will match levels in the preceding three years, overall demand looks to remain very healthy.

The familiar cast of emerging market central banks remained primary buyers of gold in Q3, but they were joined by a handful of others returning to the market after a long pause.⁴

• The National Bank of Kazakhstan was the largest buyer during the quarter, increasing its gold reserves by 18t, to 324t
• The Central Bank of Brazil, whose last gold purchase was in July 2021, reported a 15t increase to its gold reserves in September, lifting its total gold holdings to 145t
• The Central Bank of Turkey continued its steady accumulation of gold, with official (central bank and Treasury) gold reserves increasing by 7t in Q3, to 641t
• The Bank of Guatemala added 6t to its gold reserves during the quarter, a 91% increase; the bank’s gold holdings now total 13t (5% of total reserves).
• The long tail of reported central bank gold buying in Q3 consisted of the Central Bank of Iraq (6t), People’s Bank of China (5t), Czech National Bank (5t), Bank of Ghana (4t), State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (4t), Bulgarian National Bank (2t) – as part of its contribution to the ECB once it adopts the euro in 2026⁵ – Bank Indonesia (2t), Central Bank of the Philippines (2t), National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic (1t) and the National Bank of Serbia (1t)
• In contrast to the scale and breadth of buying, only two central banks reported declining gold reserves in Q3: the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (3t) and the Qatar Central Bank (1t).

The National Bank of Poland (NBP) remains the largest gold buyer y-t-d, despite remaining on the sidelines since May. But the bank has cemented its intention to continue building its gold reserves, as demonstrated by increasing its target gold share within international reserves from 20% to 30%. This indicates that the NBP is far from done with its gold accumulation plans, although it also made clear that: “The scale and pace of purchases will depend on market conditions.”⁶ It currently holds 515t of gold, 24% of total reserves.

Combining the Q3 demand figure with available monthly reported statistics, we estimate that 66% of this quarter’s demand remains unreported – a trend that’s been in place since 2022. This estimate could be revised downwards depending on potential delayed disclosures.

Looking ahead, we expect net buying to continue in Q4, though volumes may remain somewhat sensitive to price levels. Despite the fact that central banks will almost certainly accumulate less than in recent years, demand remains significantly above historical averages. For reserve managers, it proves that the strategic case for gold is still front and centre. For more information, please see the Outlook section.

Footnotes:

¹Central bank demand presented here comprises aggregate reported changes as well as an estimate for unreported buying. This differs from our monthly central bank statistics, which consist solely of publicly reported changes.

²Based on the LBMA Gold Price PM on 30 September 2025.

³Annual average between 2010-2021.

⁴Country-level data is based on reported figures available at the time of writing. Revisions may occur as more data is released.

⁵The BNB purchased gold with regard to the upcoming introduction of the euro, Bulgarian National Bank

⁶Polish central bank increases gold holdings target to 30% of reserves, mining.com