The "great gold migration" is reshaping the global landscape of reserve assets.

On September 2, the Dutch Central Bank announced that it had transferred approximately 86 tons of gold from North America to London between March and August this year, stating that the move aims to strengthen "crisis preparedness" amid global political instability.

Not only the Netherlands, but in recent years European countries such as France and Germany have accelerated the repatriation of their gold reserves from the United States, and a massive wave of "gold homecoming" is sweeping across continents.

Meanwhile, international gold prices have dropped sharply after hitting an all-time high of nearly 5,600 US dollars per ounce at the beginning of the year, once falling below the 4,000 US dollars per ounce mark, and have recently been fluctuating in the range of 4,400 to 4,500 US dollars per ounce.

Liang Yonghui, Deputy Secretary-General of the Gold and Silver Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association and Deputy General Manager of Shandong Zhaojin Gold & Silver Refining Co., Ltd., analyzed to Yicai Global that the "return of gold" is not a short-term occasional phenomenon but has medium-to-long-term sustainability. It is also a structural trend under the differentiation of the global financial landscape. Against the backdrop of the rising trend of de-globalization, growing uncertainty in the international monetary system, and increasing credit risks of sovereign currencies, enhancing the security and controllability of gold reserves is becoming an important means for various countries to safeguard financial sovereignty and resist external shocks.

Global Gold Migration

The Dutch central bank disclosed that among the 86 tons of gold transferred this time, approximately 59 tons were adjusted by selling in New York and purchasing gold bars complying with international market standards in London; more than 27 tons of gold were also transported back to the Netherlands from the United States and Canada, while an equivalent amount of standard gold bars were transferred from the Netherlands to London.

After the adjustment, London replaced New York as the main storage location for the Netherlands' overseas gold reserves.

According to data from the Dutch Central Bank, by the end of 2025, the Netherlands held 612.4 tons of gold reserves, mainly stored in Zeist of the Netherlands, London of the United Kingdom, New York of the United States, and Ottawa of Canada. After this adjustment, 30.8% of the Netherlands' gold reserves are stored in Zeist, 32.1% in London, and 18.5% each in New York and Ottawa.

DNB stated that London is regarded globally as a major trading center for physical gold, and the gold stored at the Bank of England has strong liquidity, facilitating the Netherlands to conduct rapid gold transactions in times of crisis. In such scenarios, the gold reserves stored in New York and Ottawa cannot be mobilized as quickly or directly.

This is not an isolated incident. At the beginning of 2026, France has just completed the repatriation of all its official gold reserves to its home soil, completely liquidating the 129 tons of custodial inventory stored in the United States. The operation was carried out in 26 phases and completed between July 2025 and January 2026.

The Banque de France also did not ship the old gold bars across the ocean directly. Instead, it chose to dispose of this batch of old gold in New York, then purchase newly reserved gold bars of the same weight that met international standards in the European market, and finally deposit them in the underground vault of the Banque de France. According to CCTV Finance, this asset swap also locked in approximately 12.8 billion euros in gains for France.

In the long run, since 2013, many countries have successively launched the repatriation of their overseas gold reserves.

From 2013 to 2017, Germany repatriated 300 tons of gold from New York and 374 tons from Paris, completing a total of 674 tons of gold repatriation. Since then, Turkey, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland and other countries have also successively adjusted their overseas gold reserves.

According to the World Gold Council's 2026 Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey, 9% of the surveyed central banks increased their domestic gold storage in the past 12 months, while 10% diversified their overseas storage locations. In contrast, these two ratios were 5% and 2% respectively in the previous year.

The number of central banks depositing their gold in vaults in New York and London is continuously decreasing. Among them, the proportion of central banks storing gold at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has dropped from 17% to 14%, and the custody ratio in London has also declined simultaneously. As of the first half of 2026, these central banks have transported a total of nearly 6,900 tons of gold back from the vaults in the United States and the United Kingdom over the past decade.

The Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York were once regarded as neutral, liquid and safe reserve custodians, attracting half of the world's economies. Liang Yonghui further analyzed that the future pattern of highly concentrated gold reserves in New York and London may gradually change, and pursuing sovereign controllability and diversification will become an important criterion for central banks in reserve asset management.

Collapse of Trust in the Dollar System

Behind this great migration is the breakdown of countries' trust in the US dollar system.

For a long time, long-term government bonds have been regarded as safe assets, and the yield of U.S. Treasury bonds has been the anchor for global asset pricing. Today, this "anchor" is no longer stable.

Data from the European Central Bank shows that by the end of 2025, gold's share in global official reserve assets had risen to 27%, surpassing U.S. Treasury bonds at 22% and the euro at 15%, making it the single asset class with the highest weight in the official reserves of sovereign countries worldwide.

Central banks around the world are not only "moving their positions" but also "increasing their holdings": in the second quarter of 2026, global central banks' net gold purchases reached 288.9 tons, a year-on-year surge of 62%, setting a historical record for the same period; 45% of the surveyed central banks expect to increase their gold holdings in the next 12 months, a proportion that has broken historical records.

The central bank's gold reserves have also achieved a "22-consecutive-month increase". Data released by the People's Bank of China on September 7 showed that China's gold reserves stood at 76.73 million ounces at the end of August, compared with 76.08 million ounces at the end of July, marking the 22nd consecutive month of gold purchases.

Tony Kim, Global Head of Metals Trading at Goldman Sachs FICC, believes that the pullback of gold prices from their highs this year is not the end of the bull market but a "prolonged pause." The core logic lies in the frantic buying spree by global central banks. With the constraint of a global annual output of only 3,500 tons, less and less circulating gold is left in the market, and it does not require a large inflow of funds to drive a significant rise in gold prices.

Changes are directly reflected in price fluctuations. Since 2026, the trend of gold prices has been thrilling. Spot gold hit a high of 5,595.47 US dollars per ounce intraday on January 29, then fell all the way. It dropped to a low of 3,959.33 US dollars per ounce on June 24, a decline of more than 26% from the high level.

During intraday trading on September 7th, the spot price of London gold stood at 4,405.52 US dollars per ounce, briefly falling below the key psychological level of 4,400 US dollars.

The core reason for the recent short-term pressure on gold prices is the stronger-than-expected non-farm payroll data for August — the U.S. added 162,000 non-farm jobs in August, far exceeding the market's expectation of 55,000, and the market's bets on a Fed rate hike in September have risen back to about 60%.

Tongguan Jinyuan Futures analysis shows that strong non-farm payroll data has reinforced market expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in September, but there remains significant uncertainty surrounding the Fed's September rate decision. Data on the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) to be released this week will become new focal points, potentially prompting the market to recalibrate its expectations for the Federal Reserve's monetary policy path.

Institutions generally believe that the short-term correction has not undermined the medium- and long-term upward logic of gold prices.

Citigroup's latest research report maintains a bullish stance, setting a gold price target of $4,800 per ounce for the next 0 to 3 months and raising the target to $5,000 per ounce for the 6 to 12-month period. Goldman Sachs expects the gold price to rise to $4,900 per ounce by the end of 2026.

A research report from Soochow Securities pointed out, "After half a year of volatile adjustment, the fundamental and technical aspects of gold are forming a resonance, and the price is expected to rebound to $4,700 to $5,000 per ounce in September." CITIC Securities believes that $4,000 is "probably the bottom range of this round", and it is expected that the gold price will return to the upward channel within the year.

Industry insiders say that against the backdrop of the US dollar credit system being tested, this wave, which started with the relocation of gold vaults, may ultimately reshape the foundation of the entire international monetary system. UBS warns that the US fiscal deficit still accounts for 6% of GDP even at full employment, the era of fiscal dominance has arrived, and gold is becoming the optimal asset for hedging sovereign credit risks.

SunSirs has been continuously tracking price data for over 200 commodities for nearly 20 years, please contact support@sunsirs.com for subscription.