Are the Chinese getting close to announcing a new gold-backed currency? Well, if the record amount of Australian gold exports into China is an indicator, it may be close at hand. While the Chinese have been importing a lot of gold from Australia, it reached a new record high in 2017.

According to the recently released data by the Australian Government June 2017 Resources and Energy Quarterly, Australia exported more gold to Hong Kong and China during the first quarter of 2017 than any other quarter in history.

Australian gold exports to Hong Kong and China were 54% higher Q1 2017 versus the same quarter last year:

As we can see in the chart above, Australia exported 57.4 metric tons (mt) of gold in Q1 2017 compared to 37.2 mt Q1 2016. What a difference in ten years. Australian gold export ... Read more »