BEIJING (Reuters) -China is considering setting up overseas warehouses to aid international settlement of specific products on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, its central bank said on Monday.
Shanghai Gold Exchange will be supported to conduct cooperation with overseas exchanges to expand usage of the yuan benchmark in the international market, the statement said.
The plan to further enhance cross-border financial services in Shanghai was jointly issued by four state agencies including the People’s Bank of China.
Although it did not specify which products would be subject to the plan, the Shanghai Gold Exchange mainly deals with trading of precious metals gold, silver and platinum.
Beijing has long wanted to step up globalisation of some commodities to enhance its pricing power and international influence.
Reuters reported last October that China is locking in steps to shape the pricing of the vast quantities of industrial metals it produces and consumes, with moves to attract foreign companies to trade on Shanghai’s futures exchange, which would eventually fragment global markets.
China is the world’s largest consumer of precious metals, but it typically follows global benchmark prices.
The global spot gold price has staged a record-breaking rally with a gain of 31% so far this year against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff policies.
Spot prices on the Shanghai Gold Exchange have shown a similar trend.
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Lewis JacksonEditing by David Goodman)
