Amidst the massive fluctuations in gold prices, it is difficult to find gold bars and spot gold in Shui Bei

“200 grams of CCB gold bars, no stock in Shuibei, customers just released, sell one less one, first come, first served.” On Monday, retail merchant Awei (pseudonym) in Shuibei posted an advertisement on Moments.

Awei told Caixin that as gold prices plummeted, many investors optimistic about the market bought a lot of gold bars last weekend, and currently, there is “almost no spot gold bars available.”

Earlier, the sharp rise in gold prices experienced intense fluctuations in recent days. Within a week, the London spot gold price once fell more than $1,000 from its high, and the gold price per gram in Shenzhen Shuibei market dropped by about 100 yuan. The holiday season at year-end combined with falling gold prices sparked a new wave of gold sales. Caixin reporters recently visited the Shenzhen Shuibei gold retail market and found that customer flow had significantly increased, and spot gold and silver bars that were everywhere last week are now hard to find.

Several Shuibei merchants told Caixin that because upstream merchants are dealing with high-priced raw materials, they choose to “hold onto stock and wait for prices to rise” during the gold and silver price plunge, so downstream merchants “cannot get stock.” Additionally, retail gold jewelry is also in peak season, with many consumers queuing to buy.

Regarding the large-scale gold purchasing by consumers, Wu Zewei, a special researcher at the China Merchants Bank, believes: “This reflects the overlap of holiday consumption, attractive prices, and long-term allocation needs at a specific point in time.” Wu Zewei told Caixin that the rigid gift demand before the Spring Festival and the “discount feeling” brought by the significant decline from historical highs in gold prices jointly fueled this round of physical consumption surge. Looking ahead, Wu Zewei believes that gold prices are expected to enter a period of high volatility and fluctuation, but the core logic for long- and medium-term upward movement remains unchanged.

Pre-New Year Gold Bar Sales Booming

From late January 2026 to early February, international and domestic gold prices experienced a historic sharp decline, with the international gold price dropping over 12% in a single day, marking the largest single-day drop since 1980.

During this period, Shuibei gold bars saw a “rush sale” situation, “demand downstream is very high,” said Awei.

Recently, reporters visited more than ten stalls in Shenzhen Shuibei and found that, like Awei, most merchants said they had no spot stock, with only one merchant indicating they had 5-gram gold bars available.

It’s not just Shuibei; bank gold bar sales are also booming.

An account manager at a branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Anhui told reporters that demand for gold bars is high, and all popular weights—5 grams, 10 grams, 20 grams, 100 grams, 200 grams, 500 grams, 1000 grams—are out of stock and need to be ordered.

“This year’s gold bar sales are very hot, and the number of new accounts and trading volume for Ruyi Gold and stored gold customers have also increased significantly,” said the account manager.

An account manager at a branch of Bank of China in Jiangsu also told reporters that only 10-gram, 20-gram, and 100-gram gold bars are in stock in their area, with others needing to be ordered; a customer manager at a branch of Agricultural Bank of China in Guangdong said that gold bars are in high demand and there are few remaining stocks.

Besides gold, silver bars, which were also visible everywhere last week, are also scarce in spot. Among the more than ten Shuibei merchants visited by reporters, only one said they currently sell silver bars, with only one 1000-gram product available.

Why is this happening?

Wu Zewei believes: “On one hand, the gold price correction triggered downstream rush buying; on the other hand, the volatility is so high that suppliers have thin profit margins and limited willingness to restock.”

This aligns with feedback from frontline practitioners.

Currently, the enthusiasm for gold investment and the short-term price decline have indeed increased investors’ willingness to buy gold. Caixin reporters observed in Shuibei that even on weekdays, most counters are surrounded by two or three customers, and scenes of “queueing for delivery” have even appeared.

On the other hand, the intense price swings have made upstream suppliers cautious about shipping, leading them to “hold onto stock.”

“There’s no stock to sell upstream,” Awei explained the current gold sales situation, “there’s plenty of stock inside the market, but very little outside.”

Another Shuibei shop owner, Xiao Li (pseudonym), said, “The drop was too severe, so I dare not sell; selling would mean losing money.” Currently, some merchants in the market have “sold out, and some are afraid to buy.”

Xiao Li further said, “Suppliers make about seven or eight yuan profit per gram of gold bars, but since gold prices fluctuate by dozens of yuan in a single day, they definitely don’t want to buy gold to restock.”

The same applies to silver bars. On February 3, the price of silver bars I inquired about was 25.4 yuan/gram, with a 1000-gram silver bar costing 25,400 yuan. On January 27, when I inquired in Shuibei, the silver bar price was 30.86 yuan/gram, totaling 30,860 yuan for one.

In just one week, investors holding silver bars face a nearly 5,000 yuan loss per kilogram, and merchants who bought at high prices face even greater losses.

Gold Price Fluctuations Do Not Change Long-Term Uptrend

Recently, gold prices have been like a “roller coaster.”

Data shows that on January 29, London gold approached $5600 per ounce at its peak; then, within just two trading days on January 30 and February 2, the price fell below $4500 per ounce. Starting February 3, it rebounded strongly, and after two trading days, London gold again broke through the $5000 per ounce mark.

Amid such turbulence, consumer enthusiasm for buying gold has not diminished but increased. Wu Zewei believes: “Although this phenomenon is driven by holiday and price factors, it also reflects a profound change in Chinese household asset allocation concepts: viewing gold as an important long-term family reserve rather than just decoration or short-term speculation. This causes some consumers to adopt a longer-term perspective when facing price adjustments, which itself forms one of the important support levels for gold prices.”

Wu Zewei told Caixin that the recent historic sharp decline in gold prices was caused by “macro expectation shifts” and “fragile trading structures” resonating. “The immediate trigger was the nomination of the Federal Reserve chair, which led the market to reassess monetary policy. Market participants worried that the new chair might adopt a more hawkish stance, prompting a significant rebound in the dollar index, directly suppressing dollar-denominated gold.”

“The deeper reason is that, under the narrative of ‘de-dollarization,’ gold prices had previously risen too quickly, accumulating extremely crowded long speculative positions and high leverage trading. Unexpected news changes became triggers, forcing large profit-taking and high-leverage positions to close, and measures like increased margin requirements by exchanges further intensified ‘margin call’ sell-offs, amplifying the decline,” Wu further analyzed.

Although short-term gold prices experienced a deep V-shaped fluctuation, Wu remains confident in the long-term trend.

“Gold prices are expected to enter a period of high volatility and fluctuation, but the core logic for long- and medium-term upward movement—such as central banks’ continued gold purchases amid the global ‘de-dollarization,’ geopolitical uncertainties, and the long-term evolution of the dollar credit system—has not fundamentally reversed. Short-term movements will depend on further clarity on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path and how the market absorbs high volatility.”

Wu Zewei said that in terms of demand, continuous structural buying by institutions will provide a solid foundation for gold prices, while intense price fluctuations may prompt individual investors to adopt more cautious swing trading or buy on dips. After seasonal factors at the consumption end subside, investment demand will become a more critical market driver.

(Article source: Caixin)