Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Osakawayne Studios | Moment | Getty images
The strong demand for gold in the USA. It is “sucking” the billets of some countries as merchants try to store it before the rates of the president of the United States Donald Trump on Canada and Mexico are launched.
There is an “excess of gold” in the New York vaults, Adrian Ash, Bullionvault research director, told CNBC.
More than 600 tons, or almost 20 million ounces of gold, have been transported to the vaults of the city since December last year, according to the data provided by the World Gold Council. That amount of gold normally does not belong to New York, said John Reade, a strategist of the Gold World World Cup market for Asia and Europe.
“You only keep it there when extraordinary circumstances are happening,” Reade told CNBC.
The threat of tariffs on gold has stimulated American banks, investors and merchants to change the precious metal to the exchange center of basic products and other vaults in New York, when otherwise it would be stored in London.
“There are concerns that imminent tariffs in Canada and Mexico will affect both gold and silver,” said Nicky Shiels, Head of Metal Strategy in Mks Pamp.
Supply chains have been interrupted due to this enormous suction sound, which has been the United States importing gold before possible tariffs.
John Reade
World Gold Council
Trump recently declared to sweep American tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada It will advance after a postponement in its implementation expires next week. On February 1, the president of the United States signed executive orders that impose 25% tariffs on the products of Canada and Mexico.
But some said that investors fear that the tariff threat goes beyond the two countries.
There are concerns that the wider tariffs will also come into play in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, which are also great physical gold centers, Shiels added.
“The biggest concern is that there could be a general rate about all imports to the United States and that this could also be applied to gold,” said Nikos Kavalis, managing director of Metals Focus.
Canada and Mexico are among the largest gold exporters to the United States. He UU. The greatest amount of gold in Canada importsfollowed by Switzerland, Colombia, Mexico and South Africa, according to OEC world data.
Since Trump’s electoral victory last November, US gold futures have largely surpassed their international counterparts, creating arbitration opportunities for those who can change large amounts of ingots to the United States, according to the observers of the industry with whom CNBC spoke.
Rate concerns
They attributed the movement largely to merchants who seek to close short positions, or those who have physical gold in New York waiting for shorts of short futures to capture the huge premium.
Until Thursday, the gold futures contained in the Comex were quoted at $ 2,930.6 per ounce, while the price of spot gold in London was $ 2,901, a difference of almost $ 30. The premium was broader in January.
American warehouses now store four years in the demand for consumers and gold in the United States, according to Bullionvault data.
National Gold Production in the United States in 2024 It was estimated in 160 tons, below 170 tons in 2023according to data from the United States Geological Service.
The merchants are the opinion that Trump “could hit 100% of the rates” in the gold imports of the US.
Although there is generally no pressing need for physical gold deliveries, investors must be sure that they can be done, something that Trump’s tariffs threaten to interrupt.
“Very few people have to deliver normally, but you must always be able to deliver,” said the Reade World Council.
“But if you suddenly worry that you have to pay an import rate, then you don’t want your gold in London, you must have it in New York before the tariff,” he said.
Supply chain interruption
“Supply chains have been interrupted due to this enormous suction sound, which has been the United States importing gold before possible tariffs,” Reade said.
A complicated factor is that Comex deposits Make a large extent deliveries through kilograms barsThat they are generally available in regions selected as China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and India, he added.
“There is only a limited capacity for refineries to produce a kilogram,” Reade said.
“Suddenly, everyone has been trying to obtain a kilogram bars that are eligible to be placed in Comex stores and send them to New York, and that means that other gold flows have been interrupted,” he added.
London, often known as the Terminal market for goldHe experienced a great impact on the turn.
“As the market has been changing gold inventories of private vaults from London to Comex vaults, the availability of metal in private vaults in London has decreased,” said Kavalis, managing director of Metals Focus.
Large gold bars are also being removed from London to other refineries around the world, where they can melt and refine in Kilobars, because the Standard bullion stored in London are 400 ounces bars Instead of Kilobars.
Gold reserves in London’s vaults It fell for the third consecutive month in January, they showed the data of the Bullio London market association. The amount of gold reserves in January was 1.7% lower than in December.
Gold exports from Switzerland to the United States In January, it also rose to the highest level in at least 13 years, according to a Reuters report that quotes Swiss customs data. And Singapore has sent more gold than he would normally do to the United States, Kavalis said.
Only to protect against these rates, gold has been sent to the United States, and “sucks gold from the rest of the system,” Reade said.
