An employee of the Australian Mint Jerry Hicks spoke about the current situation in the gold market, including the sale of investment gold. He paid special attention to the growth of Australian gold sales at the end of 2019 in Germany. It was thanks to this country that the mint was able to complete last year with good performance. The greatest demand in Germany was Australian investment coins. The United States Mint, on the contrary, ended 2019 with poor results.
Hicks pointed out in an interview that there were two significant factors that led to a mixed result in 2019. The fact is that the mint was able to build a good network in Germany for the sale of its investment coins. European investors value the quality of products from Australia. Gold coins of the Perth Mint have a really high quality of minting, which depicts beautiful motifs from the animal world of Australia.
Amid growing sales in Germany, a negative situation has developed in China and India, which are traditionally considered the main consumers of gold in the world. For several months now, in these countries, an official decline in demand for yellow precious metals has been recorded. For example, the decline in official demand for gold in India is associated with higher customs duties, which has led to an increase in smuggled imports. There is no exact data, but the mint believes that we are talking about large volumes of precious metal. This can be seen in the drop in sales through official sales channels.
In an interview with Kitco News, the representative of the Australian Mint also touched on the coronavirus in China. In past years, the Chinese New Year has always been marked by increased demand for gold. This year, official holidays last until February 11th. The virus epidemic has paralyzed business activity in many parts of the country. According to Hicks, it is too early to draw conclusions on how much the epidemic has affected gold demand. In any case, now there is a change of year, this can explain some lull in the gold market.
When asked about the impact of bitcoin on the gold market, Hicks only said that the symbol of this cryptocurrency is a gold coin with the letter “B” depicted on it. Therefore, in the eyes of people, gold continues to be associated with a real protective asset.