In this context the WGC used the term financial operations with regard to round tripping and not another type of commodity financing deal. But did they mean 1000 tonnes of physical gold is tied up in round tripping, or a much smaller amount that cumulative inflated trade numbers by 1000 tonnes – over a few years? I’ve sent an email to the World Gold Council (WGC) and got a very clear answer.

In their reply they stated the amount of physical gold tied up in round tripping is far less than 1000 tonnes and that in theory it can’t be more than gross export from China mainland to Hong Kong. This was 337 tonnes in 2013. However, these exports definitely contain jewelry fabricated in Shenzhen to be sold in Hong Kong or other nations; genuine processing trade. Also, the gold tied up in round tripping is likely to make more than one round. If so, every round would make the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department count the same gold as additional import. For example, if 50 tonnes is round tripped three times, that would show up as 150 tonnes of gross export from the mainland to Hong kong. Though I don’t know either how much gold is tied up in round tripping, I think the amount is far less significant than what mainstream media have presented. Just guessing 20 – 100 tonnes.