WGC: Gold Demand Faces East/West Divide in Q1 2026
A strong gold price and steady demand for safe-haven assets led to record gold demand value in the first quarter of the year, according to the World Gold Council’s (WGC) latest report.
The WGC published its latest Gold Demand Trends report on April 29, highlighting that investor and central bank demand remains strong despite the average price of gold being up 70 percent over the same period last year.
Q1 brought record levels for gold, with the LBMA (PM) price setting a new all-time high of US$5,405 per ounce in January before retreating to slide back below the key US$5,000 level.
The WGC estimates an average quarterly price of US$4,873, up 18 percent from the previous quarter. Total gold demand for Q1 was up 2 percent year-on-year, with the value of that demand up 74 percent to a record US$193 billion.
What does this tell investors about the health of the gold market?
“It tells us two things. Really simple — lots of interest continues to persist, and the price is being tolerated by people. They’re still very much engaged in the market,” explained Joe Cavatoni, senior market strategist, Americas, at the WGC, in an interview with the Investing News Network (INN).
Before we delve into the WGC’s outlook for the remainder of 2026, let’s take a deeper look at four notable gold market trends that stood out in the Q1 report on demand.
Second highest quarter for bar and coin demand
Safe-haven demand for gold in the face of escalating geopolitical tensions and economic stress had investors scooping up gold bars and coins, contributing to surging prices for the metal.
At 474 metric tons of gold bar and coin purchases, the first quarter of 2026 represents the second highest quarter for demand that this segment of the market has experienced.
All in, gold bar and coin demand in Q1 2026 was up 11 percent over Q4 2025 and 42 percent over Q1 2025.
Asian markets led the way, most notably in China and India, historically regional hot spots for gold investment demand.
Notably, Chinese bar and coin purchases had the strongest quarter on record, surpassing the previous Q2 2013 record of 155 metric tons to reach 207 metric tons.
The WGC attributed some of this to the Chinese government’s VAT reform policy on gold jewelery that came into effect at the end of 2025, making jewelery more expensive and pushing investors toward bars and coins.
India also experienced heavy demand for gold bars and coins, with demand from this segment soaring by 34 percent year-over-year to 62 metric tons. This marked the highest first quarter since 2013, and almost on par with jewellery which has typically been multitudes higher than bar and coin demand.
“I think that overall, there was a lot of interest on the part of the Indian market, and the Chinese market,” Cavatoni told INN. “My sentiment in terms of bar and coin demand is that it’s actually continuing to be a substantial market around the world, particularly…
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