BASEL: Gold exports from Switzerland totaled 163 mt in October, 10% higher then the 147 mt in September, Swiss federal customs data showed Thursday.
The figure is 19% lower than just over 200 mt reported a year earlier, with higher exports to India and Hong Kong offsetting a fall in flows to the UK and US.
The world’s largest refiner and exporter of gold, total exports from Switzerland now stand at 1,510 mt for the year to date, up just 0.5% from 1,502 mt in the same period of 2015.
Exports to India were up 49% on the month at 40.2 mt, the highest since January, but down 46% from 75 mt a year earlier.
Exports to Hong Kong were up three-fold to 47 mt in October, the highest since December, and up 83% from 25.7 mt a year earlier. Flows to the mainland of China, however, fell 32% on the month and 43% on the year, to 24.2 mt.
October gold exports to Singapore and the UAE were also the highest all year, at 5.5 mt and 3.2 mt, respectively. In a reverse of a trend seen for much of 2016, flows to the UK and US were outpaced by flows east.
Exports to the UK, which had been the largest destination of Switzerland’s gold this year, were down five-fold to just 11 mt in October, its lowest since January. While gold exports to the US slipped to below 1 mt, also the lowest since January.
Strong investment demand has seen gold pour into the UK for much of 2016 at the expense of physical demand in the east, but with prices slipping in October flows are reversed.
Based on the London Bullion Market Association settlement price, gold averaged $1,267/oz in October, down from $1,326/oz in September and the lowest since monthly average since May.
Gold is around $1,185/oz Thursday morning, having dropped below $1,200/oz Wednesday afternoon for the first time since February.
