U.S. Mint temporarily closed due to coronavirus

The U.S. mint is temporarily halting the production of investment coins due to the coronavirus. The production facility in West Point (New York) will be temporarily closed to allow the entire building to be disinfected and disinfected. It is not yet known when the US Mint will resume production in New York. The West Point Mint produces gold, silver, platinum and palladium investment coins, which are currently in particularly high demand. 

New York is currently the biggest hotspot of the coronavirus. As a result, the U.S. Mint has moved some of its silver coin production to another production facility in Philadelphia. A spokesperson for the U.S. Mint told Bloomberg that this measure will mainly affect the production of gold investment coins, such as the 22 carat Eagle and the 24 carat Buffalo.

Stampede on investment coins

The turmoil in the financial markets and the unprecedented stimulus measures by central banks and governments have led to a run on investment coins. Mints around the world are trying to scale up production to meet demand, but the coronavirus has delayed this in some cases. Canada's mint also temporarily halted its production earlier. South Africa's mint, which makes gold and silver Krugerrand coins, also had to close its doors temporarily.

The timing is unfortunate, because the demand for investment coins is very high right now. The supply of coins is slowly getting back on track, but delivery times remain longer than usual for the time being. Due to the huge demand and the limited availability of coins, premiums have also risen in recent weeks. Mints are currently charging 5% to 10% above the spot price for Gold Coins. That is two to three times as much as the normal premium. For silver coins, the premiums in the market are much higher.

'Challenging and unprecedented times'

The director of the U.S. Mint, David J. Ryder, told Kitco that the health and safety of staff is the highest priority. "These are challenging and unprecedented times. In the decision-making process regarding the production of the mint, the interests of our employees are paramount. The mint will resume production as soon as it is wise to do so again."

According to the latest figures, the US Mint produced 56,500 troy ounces of gold investment coins in the first two weeks of April. This is more than four times as many as in the same period last year. During the same period, the mint produced 350,000 silver Eagle coins. Last week we already reported extensively on the run on gold coins at the U.S. mint. In March, gold coin production rose to its highest level in four years.

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