Switzerland has exported 1,200 tonnes of gold to Asia in 2014, according to the latest data released by the Swiss Customs Administration. The biggest buyers of gold were in the Far East: India (471 tonnes), Hong Kong (367 tonnes) and Mainland China (213 tonnes). Singapore also got a lot of gold out of Switzerland last year, in total 128 tonnes. Saudi-Arabia came in fifth with net gold imports of 60 tonnes.
Which countries imported gold from Switzerland in 2014?
We didn’t only look at the gold trade figures per country, they went a step further and analyzed the gold flows between the main regions of the world. This analysis shows that, while most gold went to Asia, also a small amount of 74 tonnes was bought by the oil-producing countries in the Middle-East. The rest of the world was a net supplier of gold to Switzerland. Large suppliers of gold were Latin-American countries with 535 tonnes and African countries with 178 tonnes.
Net gold exports from Switzerland: Asian countries bought 1200 tonnes of gold in 2014
United Kingdom
European countries exported a total of 670 tonnes to Switzerland, more than any other region. The European figure however is grossly inflated by the 620 tonnes of gold moving from the gold vaults in London to the gold vaults in Switzerland. Just like Switzerland, London is still a main hub for physical gold storage and trade. Since 2013 large volumes of gold physically stored in London are being sold by investors and banks. If we leave this number out, Europe exported almost 50 tonnes of gold to Switzerland in 2014.
Which countries exported gold to Switzerland in 2014?
Switzerland
Switzerland is an important hub for physical gold storage and trade, because the country has a stable political and economical climate. The country is also well known for their friendliness towards foreign capital looking for a safe haven. Switzerland has many gold refineries and vaults and is capable of melting hundreds of tonnes of gold and storing many thousand tonnes of the precious metal. In 2014 a total of 122 countries traded gold or silver with Switzerland, the Swiss Customs data shows.
Gold moving from West to East
The numbers and graphs presented in this article confirm once again the flow of physical gold from developed countries in the West to surplus countries in the Middle East and Far East. African and Latin-American countries are producing a lot of gold these days, but they rarely keep the metal for themselves. Instead, they export it in huge quantities to more wealthy countries.
The surplus countries in the East want to trade at least some of their foreign exchange reserves to something tangible like physical gold. They buy gold and will probably continue to do so in the near future.
Related articles:
1,200 tonnes of gold moved from Switzerland to Asia in 2014
