China's net gold imports via main conduit Hong Kong jumped 78.67 percent in March from the previous month on higher demand from investors owing to concerns of a trade war with the United States, data showed on Thursday.
The imports via Hong Kong by the world's top consumer of the metal rose to 59.4 tonnes in March, the highest since July 2017, from 33.25 tonnes in February, according to data emailed to Reuters from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department.
Total gold imports via Hong Kong also climbed to 61.845 tonnes in March from 34.147 tonnes in February. "The risk of a trade war with the US and a stronger yuan versus the dollar may have supported a pick up in demand from Chinese investors," Saxo Bank's head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen said.
Trade war fears escalated in March when US President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum that could impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China.
China urged the United States to "pull back from the brink", while China's commerce ministry unveiled plans to levy additional duties on up to $3 billion of US imports in response.
However, China's net imports in March were down 46.8 percent from 111.647 tonnes in the corresponding period in 2017. "Usually March is a strong month, because retailers need to restock their inventories after the Chinese New Year holiday," said Samson Li, an analyst with Thomson Reuters GFMS.
China does not provide trade data on gold and the Hong Kong figures serve as proxy for flows to the mainland. The data may not provide a full picture of China's purchases as gold is also imported via Shanghai and Beijing.