Gold News

Gold Coin Sales Jump on Price Crash

Spring 2013's crashing gold price unleashed a surge in bullion coin sales worldwide...
 
PRODUCTION and sales of gold coins from three of the world's largest mints jumped as the price of bullion crashed this spring.
 
Driven by stellar growth in sales of gold coins, second quarter revenues at the Royal Canadian Mint rose 94% from the April to June period in 2012, breaking C$1 billion for the first ever quarter.
 
The Mint's bullion and refining business accounted for the lion's share of that growth, swelling 104% to C$963 million.
 
Sales of Maple Leaf gold coins grew 144% to more than 400,000 ounces. Silver Maple Leaf sales rose 60% to more than 6 million ounces.
 
Austria's Muenze Oesterreich AG, which produces the Philharmonic gold and silver coins, also saw its sales rise sharply thanks to this spring's 25% crash in prices.
 
Sales of gold coins from January to July rose 79% year on year, the Vienna-based manufacturer said. Weighing 383,500 ounces, Bloomberg News notes, that was "almost matching [sales] for the whole of last year."
 
The US Mint meantime saw half-year sales jump nearly 90% from H1 2012, with total sales of American Eagle and Buffalo gold coins reaching 790 ounces according to data on the Mint's website.
 
South Africa's Rand Refinery – source of the world's most numerous bullion gold coins, the Krugerrand – does not report its sales figures. But analysis of trade data this spring suggested it accounted for the lion's share of a sharp jump in gold exports from the United States.
 
"The Rand Refinery is probably the most modern and efficient refinery in the world," MoneyWeb quoted mining analyst Peter Major at Cadiz Corporate Solutions. "It can handle about a 1,000 tonnes per year, but with [South Africa's] declining gold production it probably only gets 190 tonnes per year."
 
Some 48 million ounces of Krugerrand gold coins have been produced, according to the Rand Refinery's website, since the bullion coin was launched in 1967.

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