The Chinese mainland's gold import through Hong Kong surged by 30 percent to 69.7 tons in September from a month earlier, Hexun, a domestic financial news website, cited unnamed sources as saying on Tuesday.

August saw the metal import registered 53 tons and July saw it stand at 75.8 tons. The average amount of gold imports over the long term was 65 tons a month, the news website said.

The Chinese mainland imported a total of 582 tons of gold from January to September, higher than the official figure of 558 tons released by India. Hexun estimated that the mainland's total imports by November will surpass the total gold stock of the Netherlands. Imports in 2012 are expected to be large enough to name the country as one of the top 10 gold holders in the world.

lijiabao@chinadaily.com.cn