Hoarders: China Has Imported 383 Tons of Gold in the Last 6 Months

Not impressed by the headline? Consider the following: China has acquired more gold in the last six months than there is in all of Portugal, one of the EU's largest holders of the precious metal.

Does that sound a bit more impressive?

“While the highly 'sophisticated' traders that make up the gold market continue to buy or sell the precious metal based on whether the Fed will or will not do the NEW QE [Quantitative Easing] tomorrow … China continues to do one thing. Buy,” writers at Zero Hedge report.

And they’re not kidding. China is on a mission:

Courtesy Zero Hedge (click to enlarge)

You know, we may have found the answer to yesterday's question about China's U.S. Treasury sell-off goals.

“[I]nstead of purchasing US paper, Beijing continues to buy non-US gold, in the form of 68 tons in imports from Hong Kong in the month of June. The year to date total (6 months)? 383 tons,” the Hedge reports.

“In other words, in half a year China, whose official total tally is still a massively underrepresented 1054 tons, has imported more gold than the official gold reserves of Portugal, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and so on, and whose YTD [Year to Date] imports alone make it the 14th largest holder of gold in the world,” the report adds.

Here's a list of the world's top gold reserves:

Courtesy Zero Hedge

It's important to note that China hasn't given the International Monetary Fund "accurate" (i.e. honest) estimates on their gold holdings in years. So take their above figures with a grain of salt.

"[T]he moment the PBOC [People's Bank of China] does announce its official updated gold stash, a gold price in the mid-$1000 range will be a long gone memory,” Hedge adds ominously.

Let’s do a quick recap, shall we?

1. Has China been selling off its stake in U.S. Treasurys? Yes.

2. Has China been importing hundreds of tons of gold? Yes.

3. Has China been buying and developing large portions of land in Africa? Yes and yes.

4. Are both land and gold considered safe haven investments during times of economic and social unrest? Yes and yes.

If China's actions are any indication of what lies ahead, is it safe to assume things are going to get really interesting, really fast?

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Front page photo source: AP.