Switzerland exported less gold to Asia in October

Switzerland exported less gold to Asia in October than in the previous three months, according to the latest Trade Details of the Swiss Customs. In October, total exports amounted to 100.8 tonnes of gold, of which more than 97% were destined for India, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. This is less than the month of September, when Switzerland exported a total of 116.7 tonnes of gold.

The countries that extracted the most gold from Switzerland in October were Hong Kong (41.79 tonnes), China (29 tonnes), India (21.47 tonnes) and Singapore (5.16 tonnes). These four countries have been at the top of the ranking as the largest buyers of gold from Switzerland for months and have together collected more than a thousand tonnes of gold from the Alpine state since the beginning of this year.

From January to October, India imported the most gold with 390.75 tonnes, followed by Hong Kong with a total of 358.94 tonnes. China, Singapore and Saudi Arabia complete the top five with imports of 216.63, 91.35 and 46.77 tonnes of gold respectively over the first ten months of this year.

The following chart shows that the demand for physical gold in Asia has fallen somewhat in the last two months, after the strong increase in the months of July and August. In July, the Gold price, which caused the demand for physical gold to skyrocket in countries such as China and India.

Gold exports fell to lowest level in four months in October

Cumulative exports of gold in Switzerland

Supply from the United States, the United Kingdom and South America

Nevertheless, Switzerland again imported more gold than it exported in October. The following chart shows that the total inflow of gold is still greater than the outflow. This is because the United States, the United Kingdom and several South American countries are structurally Selling gold.

Switzerland imports more gold than it exports

Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. has brought the most gold to Switzerland, at 376.45 tons. This is probably scrap gold and precious metal that comes from gold mines. Gold also came to Switzerland from the United Kingdom, a total of 160.95 tonnes. These are probably big LBMA Gold bars of ETFs and bullion banks that hold a stock in London.

It is striking that a lot of gold also comes from South America, from countries such as Argentina (331 tonnes), Chile (123.58 tonnes) and Peru (83.34 tonnes). This is probably a combination of gold from the local gold mining sector and scrap gold.