Central banks bought 45 tonnes of gold in November, Poland leads purchases once again – World Gold Council

(Kitco News) – Central banks bought a net 45 tonnes of gold in November, with the National Bank of Poland leading net buying for the second month in a row, according to Marissa Salim, Senior Research Lead, APAC at the World Gold Council.

“Central bank gold demand remained firm in November,” she wrote. “Net purchases totalled 45t, with y-t-d figures pushing 297t, as emerging-market central banks continued their significant gold buying this year.”

Salim noted that the gold holdings for top central bank buyers as a percentage of total reserves showed a wide range.

Salim said recent sovereign buying has been concentrated among a handful of central banks.

“The National Bank of Poland bought 12t this month, continuing its buying streak since October,” she noted. “The purchase lifted its gold reserves to 543t, or almost 28% of total reserves at end-November prices.”

The Central Bank of Brazil also bought gold for the third consecutive month in November, adding 11 tonnes. “The central bank has purchased 43t over the last three months, bringing its total gold reserves to 172 tonnes, or 6% of its total reserves,” she said. “The Central Bank of Uzbekistan (10t), National Bank of Kazakhstan (8t), the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic (2t), Czech National Bank (2t), the People’s Bank of China (1t) and Bank Indonesia (1t) were also buyers in November.”

The Bank of Tanzania also announced in November that “it had accumulated 15 tonnes of refined monetary gold in the first year of its Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, as part of efforts to strengthen its foreign reserves.”

The only net sellers in November were the Central Bank of Jordan (2 tonnes) and the Qatar Central Bank (1 tonne).

“Year-to-date, the National Bank of Poland (95t) continues to be the largest reported official-sector gold buyer, almost double the purchases of the next largest buyer, Kazakhstan (49t),” Samim wrote. “While y-t-d reported net purchases through November are at a slower pace than previous years, central bank gold buying momentum remains relatively robust.”

In December, J.P. Morgan said central banks are expected to remain a key pillar of support beneath the gold market in 2026. 

“Even with three consecutive years of more than 1,000 tonnes of central bank gold purchases, the structural trend of higher central bank buying has further to run in 2026,” J.P. Morgan Global Research wrote, adding that they expect 755 tonnes of central bank purchases in 2026 – lower than the peak of 1,000+ tonnes seen over the last three years, but still well above pre-2022 averages of closer to 400–500 tonnes.

“This decline is more of a mechanical change in central bank behavior rather than a structural shift,” the report noted. “With prices around $4,000/oz and above, central banks simply don’t need to purchase as many tonnes of gold to move their gold share to the desired percentage.”

“We believe central bank demand will remain elevated next year and have been encouraged by strong buying in the third quarter of 2025, even with much higher gold prices,” said Gregory Shearer, head of Base and Precious Metals Strategy at J.P. Morgan.