The world price of gold continues to decline. Obviously, Asian countries are taking advantage of this price weakness in the yellow precious metal to stock up on gold for the future, and we are talking about tons of gold. This is evidenced by the latest data on foreign trade in Switzerland. It is worth recalling that it is the refineries of this country that provide up to two thirds of the world demand for investment gold.
Switzerland exported 175.18 tons of gold last month, according to the Federal Customs Administration. Of these, more than 150 tons went to the countries of the Asian region. In September, China received 44 tons, India 34 tons, Turkey 32 tons, Thailand almost 13 tons and the United Arab Emirates over 10 tons.
The value of Swiss gold exports in September was 9.24 billion Swiss francs (9.43 billion euros). This means that gold exports are up 40% month-on-month and 48% month-on-September 2021.
At the same time, gold imports to Switzerland also increased. The figure was 255 tonnes worth CHF 9.49 billion, up 3.6% on the previous month and 20% on September 2021. The largest suppliers were the US with 36 tons, Canada with 28 tons, as well as Kazakhstan with 19 tons and the Philippines with 17 tons of gold. In all these cases, the gold was of high purity.
On the contrary, Australia (21 tons), Peru (17 tons) and Argentina (27 tons) supplied the precious metal in the form of raw materials, which are then refined in Swiss factories.