South Korea’s central bank plans to purchase gold from domestic producers in December, an official said.
The central bank expects to have its transaction system for purchases from local producers in place by December 14. While no purchase volume or timing has been set, about 1 metric ton of gold could be available by then, the official said.
“After the transaction system is ready in December as planned, we plan to purchase,” the official added.
In August, the Bank of Korea said that it would buy gold from local producers to support its management of the foreign exchange reserves.
The central bank planned to buy gold intended for exports only at contract prices.
South Korea has not bought any gold to add to its reserves since 2013, in contrast with some other central banks, such as China’s, which have been active buyers since 2022 to diversify their reserves, supporting the price.
The Bank of Korea held 104.4 metric tons of gold, representing 3.1% of its total reserves as of the end of June, according to the World Gold Council.
South Korea’s existing gold reserves were stored in London, which remained the most popular option for central banks that do not keep reserves domestically.
The head of the reserve investment division said 11 months ago that the central bank was considering gold purchases for reserves in the medium to long term.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee, Editing by Louise Heavens)
