Governments are hoarding commodities beyond gold — fueling price swings

Gold's rally is part of a broader shift in how governments and investors treat commodities, Goldman Sachs says. Central-bank buying has helped drive gold's surge as governments seek to hedge geopolitical and financial risks, and similar "insurance"-style strategies are now appearing across other commodity markets.

After the 2020 supply-chain disruptions and the 2022 food and energy shocks, policymakers turned to tariffs, export controls, support for domestic production, and the buildup of government stockpiles to secure critical materials. Those moves are fragmenting markets toward more regional systems and raising the risk of higher volatility.

Goldman pointed to copper as an early example: despite expectations of a global oversupply in 2025, US stockpiling pulled material out of international markets and left markets outside the US tighter. Private investors are joining governments in leaning on hard assets for diversification, and those flows are supporting metals prices while amplifying volatility.

United States

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