Gold demand hits a record $193bn in value in the first quarter

The World Gold Council's Gold Demand Trends report for the first quarter of 2026, published on 29 April, showed total quarterly gold demand, including over-the-counter activity, at 1,231 tonnes, a 2% increase year-on-year. The value of that demand, however, told a more dramatic story: at a record $193bn, it was up 74% on the same quarter of 2025, reflecting the extraordinary price gains gold had posted through January and February.

Bar and coin demand rose 42% year-on-year to 474 tonnes, as investors rushed to buy physical gold during the run-up to, and immediately after, the metal's record-breaking rally. The report also included a significant revision to central bank data: Metals Focus, which compiles figures for the Council, cut its estimate of first-quarter central bank demand from an initial 244 tonnes to 57 tonnes, reclassifying the 187-tonne difference as over-the-counter and other demand rather than official reserve purchases.

Record value, not necessarily record tonnage

The gap between a modest 2% rise in physical tonnage and a 74% jump in dollar value captured, in a single dataset, the defining feature of gold's 2026: a market in which price appreciation, rather than any surge in underlying physical demand, was responsible for almost all of the headline growth investors were reading about.

Why the revision mattered

The sharp downward revision to central bank demand was a reminder that even authoritative industry data on gold flows is subject to significant later correction, complicating real-time analysis of exactly which category of buyer, central banks, private investors or Asian consumers, was driving any given leg of the year's extraordinary price moves.

Analysts said the scale of the revision to central bank figures illustrated a broader challenge facing anyone trying to trade or invest around gold demand data in real time: even the World Gold Council's own headline numbers could shift dramatically once more complete information became available months later.

Investment strategists said the report reinforced the broader narrative running through 2026: that gold's dollar value story, driven by price, was becoming increasingly detached from its physical tonnage story, a distinction with real consequences for how central banks, miners and investors each interpreted the same headline numbers.

Sources

• World Gold Council: Record gold prices continue to shift demand dynamics, 29 Apr 2026

Photo: Gold ingots; the value of first-quarter 2026 gold demand hit a record $193bn even as physical tonnage rose only modestly. Szaaman, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.