Hong Kong Unveils First Five-Year Plan, Targets Gold-Led Commodities Ecosystem

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee unveiled the city's first five-year plan at the Legislative Council. The plan proposes using gold as an entry point to build a commodities trading ecosystem, advancing coordinated development of clearing systems, storage, supply and infrastructure related to gold trading, and leveraging gold's role as a strategic asset.

The plan calls for benchmarking against major international gold trading centres over the long term and pursuing parallel development of hardware and software. It seeks to accelerate infrastructure construction to provide efficient and credible services for international-standard gold trading; support more gold dealers and financial institutions in establishing a presence in Hong Kong to expand capacity and volume; raise the city's gold storage capacity and refining capability; and strengthen local talent training while studying further preferential policies for gold-related enterprises. The plan also proposes deepening cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland gold market, actively advancing connectivity, and building a one-stop storage, trading, clearing and service centre to form an integrated gold ecosystem.

On RMB-denominated trading, the plan proposes exploring the development of an RMB-denominated gold market and commodities market, strengthening cooperation with mainland exchanges such as the Shanghai Gold Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange, attracting international investors and increasing RMB-priced products. It calls for coordinated efforts to drive breakthroughs in offshore RMB commodities trading, leveraging Hong Kong's status as a licensed delivery point in the London Metal Exchange global warehouse network to spur linked development of commodities-related trading, risk management and financing, explore new directions for meeting demand for other investment tools, and build an efficient and open commodities ecosystem. The plan also proposes further enriching the range of RMB-denominated commodity futures and options in Hong Kong, supporting the use of RMB pricing and settlement in the city's commodities spot trading, developing RMB commodities trading in a differentiated and complementary manner with the mainland market, including collaboration with the Qianhai Mercantile Exchange.