China Precious Metals Prices

How China prices precious metals

China discovers precious-metals prices on two exchanges. Gold and silver trade on the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), the country's authorized spot venue for physical metal, operating under the People's Bank of China. Platinum and palladium trade on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX), which launched platinum-group-metal futures in November 2025. Both quote in Chinese yuan, the SGE per gram or kilogram and GFEX per gram, and we convert each to US dollars per troy ounce so you can compare China's price directly with the West.

Each metal page leads with today's China price in USD and shows the China premium, the gap versus US spot or COMEX. Because China imports most of its metal under quota and runs capital controls on the yuan, that premium is a clean, real-time read on physical demand from the world's largest metals consumer.

China price vs China premium: which page do you want?

The pages above answer "what does this metal cost in China today?" If instead you want to study the arbitrage spread itself, including historical premium ranges, SHFE warehouse inventory, and the SGE/GFEX-vs-Western methodology, use the premium pages:

• Shanghai silver premium and Shanghai gold premium for the SGE-vs-West arbitrage view.
• GFEX platinum premium and GFEX palladium premium for the GFEX-vs-COMEX arbitrage view.
• India premium pages for the same idea in the world's other giant metals market.

Where do China's metal prices come from?

Gold and silver are priced on the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), platinum and palladium on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX), and the base metals (copper, aluminum, nickel, zinc, lead, tin) on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE). Each is China's official domestic venue for that metal.

Why are China's metal prices quoted in yuan?

China's exchanges quote in Chinese yuan, per gram or kilogram for precious metals and per tonne for base metals. We convert each to US dollars using the live USD/CNY rate, and show the yuan price too, so you can compare China directly with Western markets.

What is the China premium?

The China premium is the gap between China's domestic price and the equivalent Western price (US spot or COMEX). Because China imports most of its metal under quota and runs capital controls on the yuan, that premium is a real-time read on physical demand from the world's largest metals consumer.

Can foreign investors trade on China's metal exchanges?

Direct access to the SGE, SHFE, and GFEX is restricted to approved domestic participants, and contracts settle in yuan. International investors generally track these prices as a demand signal and gain exposure through Western futures, ETFs, or the small number of internationally accessible Chinese contracts.

How current are the prices on these pages?

Precious-metal prices update through SGE and GFEX trading hours in Beijing and refresh continuously on the page, while the base-metal pages use the latest daily SHFE settlement. The USD conversion always uses the live exchange rate.