Shanghai Gold Price in Dollars
Shanghai Gold Premium
Shanghai gold can trade at a premium or discount to Western markets depending on domestic demand, currency dynamics, and regional supply conditions. A positive premium typically indicates elevated Chinese demand or restricted supply, while a negative premium may reflect weaker domestic buying or ample availability.
Prices are for informational purposes only. Use this page at your own risk. We accept no liability for errors.
China Gold Vaults
Exchange warehouse inventories provide insight into physical gold availability in China. Declining stocks often indicate strong demand or tighter supply conditions, while rising inventories may suggest weakening consumption or increased supply.
SHFE Gold Vaults vs Shanghai Price
SHFE warehouse inventory plotted against the Shanghai spot gold price.
Comparing exchange inventories with the Shanghai gold price helps identify whether price movements are driven by real physical demand or financial market activity. Rising prices alongside falling inventories often signal tightening supply conditions.
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What the Shanghai Gold Price Represents
The Shanghai gold price reflects gold traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), China's primary marketplace for domestic gold trading. The SGE was established in 2002 and operates under the supervision of the People's Bank of China as the country's official exchange for physical precious metals.
China is one of the world's largest sources of physical gold demand. Because trading activity on the SGE is closely connected to jewelry fabrication, investment buying, industrial use, and wholesale physical flows, Shanghai prices often respond directly to real supply and demand conditions.
This page tracks the Au(T+D) contract, one of the most actively traded gold instruments on the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Au(T+D) is a deferred settlement contract that allows physical delivery but also supports margin trading and position rollover. Due to its high liquidity and continuous trading activity, it is widely used as a real-time market reference for gold pricing within China.
For global comparison, Shanghai prices are evaluated against the international gold benchmark XAU/USD, representing the widely referenced spot price of gold quoted in US dollars per troy ounce in global markets.
Gold in China can trade at a premium or discount to Western markets. This difference known as the Shanghai gold premium measures the gap between domestic Chinese pricing and global benchmark prices.
Because China represents a major share of global physical gold demand, sustained changes in this premium are widely monitored by global investors as an indicator of regional supply tightness and demand strength.
More detailed methodology for price construction and benchmark selection is available here:
Shanghai premium calculation methodology
Spot price reference methodology
Key Physical Market Indicators: Price and Deliverable Inventory
To complement price analysis, this page tracks deliverable gold warehouse stocks reported by the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE). These inventories represent gold held in certified delivery warehouses used for futures settlement and provide a useful indicator of short-term availability in exchange-linked supply chains.
Analyzing price and inventory together helps distinguish between short term market volatility and genuine changes in physical supply conditions.
- Rising price + falling inventory often indicates tightening supply or strong physical demand
- Rising price + rising inventory may reflect restocking or increased supply availability
- Falling price + rising inventory often signals weakening demand
- Falling price + falling inventory may indicate supply disruptions or structural changes in warehouse flows
The Chinese Market: SGE and SHFE
China's gold market is primarily driven by two major exchanges. The Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) facilitates physical trading and delivery, while the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) provides futures contracts used for hedging, financing, and inventory management.
Physical vs Financial Price Formation
Gold price formation differs between Shanghai and Western markets due to structural differences in trading activity. In Shanghai, pricing is closely linked to physical flows and domestic consumption. In Western markets, futures exchanges such as COMEX are widely used for hedging and financial positioning, with most contracts closed or rolled prior to delivery.
The London market provides an additional global reference through the LBMA Gold Price auction, which establishes widely used benchmark prices for institutional transactions.
Why Gold Prices in China Diverge from the West
Regional price differences can persist because physical metal does not move freely between markets. Import procedures, regulatory controls, financing conditions, and logistical delays all influence how quickly supply responds to shifts in domestic demand.
These frictions slow the arbitrage process that would normally equalize prices between regions. When domestic demand changes faster than supply can adjust, Shanghai prices may move first, allowing premiums or discounts to persist until global flows rebalance.
Data Sources & Methodology
Shanghai gold prices are calculated using publicly available market data from the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Prices are converted from RMB per gram to USD per troy ounce using foreign exchange rates to enable global comparison.
Inventory data is sourced from official weekly warehouse stock reports published by the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange operates both daytime and nighttime trading sessions. Hourly price data on this page is collected across all active trading periods, including the night session, to capture continuous market activity and interaction with global trading hours.
Western spot reference prices are sampled at the same timestamps as Shanghai trading data. All comparisons are time aligned to reflect simultaneous market conditions rather than asynchronous price snapshots.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a positive Shanghai gold premium mean?
It means gold is more expensive in China than in Western markets, often reflecting strong domestic demand or tighter regional supply.
What does a negative Shanghai gold premium mean?
It means gold is cheaper in China than in Western markets, often reflecting weaker domestic demand or increased supply availability.
Why do traders watch Shanghai gold prices?
Because China is a major driver of physical gold demand, price changes in Shanghai can signal shifts in real supply and demand conditions that influence global markets.
How does the Shanghai gold market differ from COMEX?
Shanghai pricing is closely linked to domestic physical flows and delivery-linked demand, while COMEX primarily serves as a futures market for hedging and financial positioning.
