German Gold Buying…A Chart You Must See

While EASTERN demand for physical gold investment remains strong, most of the folks in the WEST are bored with the barbarous relic as they continue to funnel their funds into highly inflated paper assets. However, the Germans seem to look at gold a bit differently… actually a lot differently.

Even though the Swiss continue to buy more gold on a per capita basis, German physical gold investment demand is the highest of all Western countries. How much higher? Let’s look at the chart below:

According to the World Gold Council, total German physical gold bar and coin demand during Q1 2015 was 32.2 metric tons (mt), Switzerland ranked second with 13.8 mt and the U.S. came in third at 9.9 mt. Interestingly, German physical gold investment increased 20% compared to the same period last year while U.S. gold coin and bar demand fell 12%.

Matter-a-fact, German gold bar and coin purchases (32.2 mt) during the quarter account for more than half of total European demand (61 mt). On the other hand, the British, French and Canadians ranked the lowest in the chart taking the 5th, 6th and 7th spots respectively. What’s even more amusing, total physical gold investment from these three countries is about a tenth of German purchases.

Furthermore, Germans purchased more than three times the physical bar and coin investment than did Americans during the quarter. Now, as I mentioned above, the Swiss still buy the most gold per capita due to their long-term fundamental belief in gold ownership. However, if we compare German buying versus American… this is the result:

Germany population = 80 million (32.2 metric tons)
United States population = 320 million (9.9 metric tons)

Germany is actually buying 12 times more physical gold per capita than the United States.

Again, if we exclude the savvy gold buying Swiss, the Germans continue to be the strongest physical gold buyers in the West. Lastly, if we add up all the other Western countries total gold bar and coin demand including Switzerland, here is the result for Q1 2015:

Germany = 32.2 metric tons (45%)
Rest of West = 39.5 metric tons (55%)

Is there something the Germans know about gold that most of the folks in the West don’t?

NOTE:  It was brought to my attention by a new reader that I state gold in metric tons and troy ounces.  The reader thought this was a bit confusing for new folks learning about the industry.  I agreed.  Unfortunately, the industry publishes gold statistics in these two metrics.  I could convert everything to one value or the other, but anyone reading the published reports would see these two different metrics and still be confused.

Here is the conversion:  32,151 oz = 1 metric ton

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