US Gold Exports To Hong Kong And China Doubled In October

U.S. gold exports to Hong Kong and China jumped significantly in October.  Not only were U.S. gold exports strong in October, they were the second highest for the year.  Shipments of gold out of the U.S. spiked in January, declined in February and March and remained subdued during the summer months.

However, U.S. gold exports Jumped 70% In September, at 50.1 metric tons (mt), with the majority going to Switzerland (15.3 mt) and the United Kingdom (13 mt).  If we look at the chart from the article linked above, U.S. gold exports to Hong Kong (8.5 mt) and China (3.3 mt) placed in the third and fourth position respectively:

Then in October, something interesting took place.  According to recently released USGS Gold Mineral Industry Survey, the U.S. exported 51 mt of gold in October with a large increase going to Hong Kong, China and India.

As we can see from the chart above, U.S. gold exports to Switzerland gained a little in October, reaching 17.6 mt compared to 15.3 mt in September…. but the big increase came from Hong Kong (12.9 mt), China (7.4 mt) and India (6.1 mt).  In addition, U.S. gold exports to the United Kingdom fell considerably from 13 mt in September to only 2 mt in October.

Now, if we look at U.S. gold exports over the past six months, we can see a striking change in October.  From May to September, gold exports to Hong Kong, China and India were a quarter of total exports.  However, these three countries accounted for 26.4 mt or 52% of all the U.S. gold exported in October, compared to 23% in September.

Furthermore, the 7.4 mt of U.S. gold exported directly to China was the highest monthly total I have ever seen going back several years.  This increase of U.S. gold demand from Hong Kong, China and India was probably due to the big drop in the price of gold at the end of October when it fell from $1,250 on the 22nd of the month to a low of $1,160 on Halloween, the 31st.

It will be interesting to see how much gold was exported from the U.S. in November as the price of gold fell even further to a low of $1,130.

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