Switzerland is very much a conduit for gold flows from West to East, largely because of it being the location for four of the world’s largest independent gold refineries. (Swiss refineries are reported by http://www.bullionstar.com to account for 65-70% of world refined gold output). These refineries specialise in re-refining 0.995 London good delivery gold bars in 350-430 troy ounce sizes, and refining gold scrap, and producing the higher purity and much smaller gold bars and wafers in demand in the East, as well as producing high purity gold coins for some nations. Upwards of 1,600 tonnes a year of gold passes through these Swiss refineries, which is around half global gold production. Indeed in 2013, when Chinese demand was booming and there were big liquidations out of the gold ETFs, it is reported that Swiss gold exports exceeded 2,500 tonnes (equivalent to nearly 80% of global new mined gold output that year).
So the importance of the Swiss gold import and export figures cannot be emphasised enough in terms of global gold flows and where they are coming from and going to. In the latest month’s figures almost 85% of the Swiss gold exports were headed for Asia.
The West to East gold flows continue unabated.
This post was published at Sharps Pixley
Follow on Twitter
Recent Comments