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China’s dominance of global gold markets took another key step in April. China is already the largest producer, importer and consumer of gold in the world – an unprecedented treble. The Shanghai Gold Exchange has, it says, ranked as the world’s largest physical gold exchange for nine consecutive years. Now it has an important benchmark for the metal too.
In April, the Shanghai Gold Exchange launched its Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price. SGE chairman Jiao Jinpu says the benchmark has already attracted “strong interest” from commodity exchanges and domestic and international market participants. He believes it will help to facilitate price discovery in the Chinese gold market, accelerate the internationalization of the market and strengthen China’s financial market systems.
The benchmark price is denominated in renminbi, quoted per gram and derived from the trading of 1kg standard gold ingots of fineness 999.9 or higher on the SGE trading platform. It is determined through an auction system, with multiple rounds of buy/sell intentions at various price points. It is traded twice a day, at 10.15am and 2.15pm Beijing time.
