Turkey Largest Gold Seller in 2026, Poland Tops Buyers

World Gold Council data revealed a two-sided picture of official gold demand in 2026, as central bank moves were not limited to buying, with several countries resorting to reducing their reserves. Turkey topped the list of sellers after reducing its holdings by 81.6 tonnes between January and August, including 60.4 tonnes in March alone, before resuming purchases in August by about 2.9 tonnes. Russia reduced its reserves by 34.2 tonnes, and the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan reduced its holdings by 21.9 tonnes. Total holdings by central banks globally stand at 36,888.97 tonnes, or about 1.19 billion troy ounces.

On the other hand, Poland added 97.8 tonnes of gold through August, bringing its reserves to 647.98 tonnes, nearly matching its entire 2025 purchases by a margin of just 2.2 tonnes, after entering the list of the top ten gold-holding countries this year. Each Polish citizen's share reached about 17.12 grams of gold, equivalent to a value of about $4,919 at current prices.

China added 80.2 tonnes through August, raising its reserves to 2,386.55 tonnes to become the fifth-largest official holder of gold, valued at nearly $318.9 billion at the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) price of $4,156.40 per ounce on October 6. Chinese purchases in August reached 20.2 tonnes, more than twenty times the January volume.

Purchases were not limited to Poland and China; Uzbekistan added 48.2 tonnes despite two months of slight decline, Kazakhstan bought 36.1 tonnes in every month except January, while the Czech Republic raised its holdings by 14.2 tonnes to 85.76 tonnes through continuous monthly purchases. This comes at a time when spot gold prices are moving near a two-month low of around $4,100 per ounce under pressure from a strong US dollar and rising US Treasury yields, according to analysis by the platform BestBrokers. Alan Goldberg, Chief Data Analyst at BestBrokers, said central bank buying reveals who wants to hold their wealth in a form that cannot be printed, expecting upcoming quarterly data to show whether the pace of accumulation continued in September.

What do these terms mean?

World Gold Council: An international organization bringing together gold producers and publishing official data on supply, demand, and official country purchases.

London Bullion Market Association (LBMA): The benchmark market for global gold and silver pricing, whose prices are adopted as an international standard.

Ounce: A unit of weight for precious metals equal to about 31.1 grams, which is the standard unit used in global gold pricing.