Bank of China first Chinese bank to join gold price benchmark

* ICE Benchmark Administrator replaced gold fix in March

* BOC becomes eighth institution to join gold action

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - The Bank of China will join seven others on the electronic platform that sets thegold price benchmark, the London Bullion Market Association saidon Tuesday.

BOC joins Goldman Sachs, UBS, Barclays, HSBC, Bank of Nova Scotia, SocieteGenerale and JP Morgan to set the gold price,administered by ICE Benchmark Administration, which replaced thecentury-old gold "fix" in March.

The benchmark is widely used by producers, consumers andinvestors to trade and value the metal.

Bank of China joined the LBMA as an initial member in 1987,and has been participating in the gold trading business inLondon for over forty years, BOC general manager Yu Sun said.

China is the world's second biggest gold consumer andlargest producer, China has never played a major role in theglobal gold fixing, he added.

However China is looking at establishing its presence as abenchmark hub that could compete with the London benchmark.

China's state-run Shanghai Gold Exchange said last month itwas working on launching new price benchmark fixing products asa new service to market participants. (Editing by William Hardy)