Central banks around the world continued accumulating gold at an elevated pace through February 2026, with Poland emerging as the largest single buyer, adding 20.23 tonnes to its national reserves as part of a multi-year plan to reach 700 tonnes. The additions reflect heightened security concerns on NATO's eastern flank and a broader strategic shift among sovereign wealth managers toward hard assets.

Uzbekistan added 16.48 tonnes, Kazakhstan added 6.51 tonnes, and Malaysia added 4.98 tonnes over the same period, according to World Gold Council data visualized by Elements by Visual Capitalist. The buying pattern reveals a consistent divide between emerging market central banks accumulating gold as a hedge against geopolitical risk and currency volatility, while Russia and Turkey led selling activity, reflecting domestic fiscal pressures.

China, despite its position as the world's largest gold producer with 380.2 tonnes mined in 2024, added only 2.18 tonnes to its central bank reserves in early 2026, a comparatively modest figure that analysts note may understate actual accumulation due to the opacity of Chinese reserve reporting. Investment firms and precious metals companies that build content strategy for investment firms to explain central bank demand dynamics and their price implications are better positioned to capture audiences researching allocation decisions.

Source: Elements by Visual Capitalist -- https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/central-banks-buying-and-selling-gold-in-2026/