✦ Private ClientLive indicator · Physical demand

The Shanghai Gold Premium

What China pays for physical gold against the rest of the world, measured every Shanghai trading day since 2016.

Updated each Shanghai trading day after the 14:15 Beijing benchmark (08:15 Brussels in summer, 07:15 in winter)

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Shanghai against the West

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Shanghai benchmark, check it yourself
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The SGE PM benchmark is fixed once a day at 14:15 Beijing (08:15 Brussels summer, 07:15 winter). Dollar price = yuan per gram × 31.1035 grams per ounce ÷ USD/CNY. Compare it with live gold on the right: above it, China pays a premium; below it, a discount. The change in the premium is given in dollars and in basis points (1 bp = 0.01%).

Gold spot, live (TradingView).

Above zero (gold): China pays more than the West. Below zero (grey): China pays less. Neither colour means good or bad for the gold price: read it with the price and over weeks, not days (see Reading it). Points before May 2024 are weekly.

Shanghai daySGE PM
¥/g		SGE PM
$/oz		Premium
$/oz		Premium
%

Why there is a premium

Gold trades in three big pools: London, New York and Shanghai. Metal can move freely between London and New York, but into China it needs import permits from the central bank. That makes Shanghai the one pool where a local price can drift away from the world price.

When Chinese buyers want more gold than the permits let in, Shanghai trades above London and New York: a premium. When they want less, or the yuan weakens, Shanghai can slip to a discount. The premium is therefore the cleanest daily read on Chinese physical demand, the largest single source of physical buying in the world.

Investment-grade gold traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange is exempt from China’s value-added tax, so the gold premium is not inflated by VAT. (Silver is not exempt, which is why the Shanghai silver premium runs much higher.)

How it is measured

Premium = SGE Shanghai Gold Benchmark PM, converted to dollars per troy ounce, minus the Western spot price at the same moment.
China
The Shanghai Gold Benchmark PM, set at 14:15 Beijing time (06:15 UTC), in yuan per gram, converted at USD/CNY.
The West
From 8 October 2026: gold spot at 08:15 exactly, with 08:00 and the live MetalCharts price recorded alongside (see Method check). History: COMEX front-month gold at 06:00 UTC, 15 minutes before the benchmark, turned into a spot price by removing the cost of carry (13-week T-bill rate).
Why not the closes
Comparing China’s close with London’s or New York’s puts hours of price movement into the gap. On a day when gold moves $40, that creates a premium that isn’t there. Both sides are taken in the same Asian hour instead.
Other published figures
The World Gold Council compares the SGE price with the LBMA London PM price, about eight hours later. Dealer surveys (Reuters) quote physical premiums over spot. Both are useful, but their daily numbers can differ from this one.
Before May 2024
No same-hour Western price is available, so the daily open is used and the history is shown weekly. Treat it as approximate.

Method check: three timings side by side

There is no single right moment to take the Western price. So from 8 October 2026 the desk records three each day and compares them.

08:15 exact
Gold spot at the moment of the Shanghai benchmark (opening price of the 15-minute candle, TradingView). In theory the cleanest comparison. This is the figure the chart shows when it is available.
08:00
Gold spot 15 minutes before the benchmark (hourly candle, TradingView). The same timing as the history back to May 2024, so it keeps the series comparable.
At the run
MetalCharts live spot at the moment the job runs, usually 2 to 15 minutes after the benchmark.

Times in Brussels summer time; from 25 October one hour earlier (07:15 and 07:00), because China has no clock change. All three use the same USD/CNY rate, so they differ only in the timing of the gold price. When gold moves fast that morning, the three drift apart: that is the warning that the day’s premium is less precise.

Shanghai day08:15
exact		08:00At the
run		Spread
First readings on Thursday 8 October 2026, when Shanghai reopens.

Reading it: a cycle, not a daily signal

The premium does not tell you whether gold will go up or down tomorrow. It tells you who is carrying the price: Chinese physical buyers or Western investors. And it does that over weeks and months, not from one day to the next.

A premium is not “good” and a discount is not “bad”. In practice the premium often moves against the price.

Chinese buyers are price-sensitive. When gold rallies fast they stop chasing it and Shanghai slips to a discount. When gold falls they buy the dip and Shanghai moves to a premium. The months since mid-2025 show it clearly:

PeriodGold over the periodAverage premium
Aug – Sep 2025+3%, then +9%−$26, then −$51
Jan 2026+17%+$22
Mar – Jun 2026−15%, −3%, −3%, −11%+$15 to +$32
Aug 2026+9%−$24
Sep 2026−6%−$17

Gold: SGE PM benchmark in dollars, first to last reading of each month. Premium: monthly average of the daily readings on this page.

Read it together with the price

Price up, premium
China is buying into the rally. The strongest combination: the move has physical demand behind it (January 2026).
Price up, discount
The West is carrying the rally (ETFs, futures) and China refuses to chase. The move depends on Western money staying in, so it is more fragile (August–September 2025, August 2026).
Price down, premium
China is buying the dip. Physical demand puts a floor under the sell-off (March–June 2026).
Price down, discount
Nobody is buying. The weakest combination (most of September 2026). A turn back into a premium is the first sign that Chinese buyers are returning, as on 29 September 2026.

How to use it

Look at the trend
Use the 30-day average and the 3- to 12-month view. Single days are noisy: one reading can swing $30 or more on a fast-moving day, a yuan move or the timing of the Western price.
Look for turns
What matters is a switch from discount to premium, or back, that holds for several weeks. That is when the balance between East and West changes.
Not a timing tool
The premium can stay at a discount through a whole rally, or at a premium through a whole decline. Do not buy or sell on it alone.
Holidays
No reading on Chinese public holidays (Golden Week, Lunar New Year). Buying often picks up just before and just after a long closure.
On this desk the premium is confirmation, not a trigger. It says whether physical demand from the east supports the view built on real rates and the dollar.

Sources

Educational content to support your own research and decisions. Not financial advice.

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