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A recap of which countries bought and sold gold last month

February 24, 2015

While nothing ground breaking about this post from GoldCore.com it does provide us with an update on which countries are buying and selling gold. Click here to visit the GoldCore website for other timely updates.

 

10,792 Tonnes – ECB’s “Reserve of Safety” Accumulated

The Euro zone raised its gold holdings by 7.437 tonnes to 10,791.885 tonnes in January, International Monetary Fund data released overnight showed.

The rise in gold holdings was small in tonnage terms and in percentage terms  – especially when viewed in the light of the recently launched ECB’s EUR 1 trillion QE monetary experiment.

Nevertheless, the rise in Euro-area gold holdings shows how the ECB continue to view gold as an important monetary asset. Mario Draghi said of gold in October 2013 that gold is a “reserve of safety” that “gives you a value-protection against fluctuations against the dollar.”

Draghi told an open forum at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, why central banks want gold and what value it offers. He said that there were “several reasons” to own gold including “risk diversification”.

The increase in reserves came at a time, January, of rising gold prices amidst the reemergence of the Greek debt crisis.

It may signal that the ECB and Eurozone are set to embark on a gold accumulation programme. More likely, it is simply a way to bolster confidence in the euro due to increasing doubts about the viability of the single currency.

goldcore_bloomberg_chart4_24-02-15

Russia sold a very small amount of gold in January for the first time since March. Russia lowered its reserves to 1,207.7 tons from 1,208.2 tons, ending nine months of consecutive purchases, the IMF data showed.

Russia, the world’s fifth-biggest gold holder, had been adding to its holdings for many years in order to bolster the rouble.

Before last month, Russia had bought at least 18 tons a month since September and more than tripled its holdings since 2005.

Turkey’s gold reserves fell marginally last month along with Mexico and Belarus, the data showed.

Kazakhstan increased gold reserves for the 28th straight month, while Ukraine added to holdings for the first time since August, the data showed. Kazakhstan boosted holdings to about 193.5 metric tons from 191.8 tons a month earlier as Ukraine’s rose to 23.9 tons from 23.6 metric tons.

Kazakhstan’s hoard rose 33 percent in the past year alone and more than doubled in the past three years.

Ukraine’s assets dropped in November to the lowest level since 2005 as its foreign currency reserves contracted and the hryvnia slumped amid the conflict and collapsing economy. There were also concerns that the newly installed government had acquired the gold and moved it offshore, out of Ukraine.

Central banks are some of the largest buyers of gold today – see table above. Central banks have been adding to their gold reserves for the past five years, a reversal from two decades of selling since the late 1980s. They were net buyers in 2014 and are set to be net buyers again 2015.

Governments bought 477.2 tons of gold bullion in 2014, the second-biggest increase in 50 years, and purchases will be at least 400 tons this year, the World Gold Council has estimated.

The smart money will continue to follow the lead of central banks internationally and gradually accumulate gold and dollar, euro or pound cost averaging into an allocated and segregated physical gold position.

Daily and Weekly Updates Here

Discussion
23 Comments
    CFS
    Feb 24, 2015 24:12 PM

    Indians bought some gold but is waiting until after the end of this month when import duties are expected to be lowered in the budget on Feb 28.

    CFS
    Feb 24, 2015 24:17 PM

    Does anyone here have verification data on the exact amount China now holds. (Projected at over 15,000 tonnes)?
    Compared with the not-recently-audited amount (8,300 tonnes) that the US may or may not still have.

      Feb 25, 2015 25:53 AM

      I hope the Chinese don’t have 15,000 tonnes. I think this is a BS scaremongers number. Officially it’s still 1050 tonnes but everybody thinks it’s much more than that.
      If they had 15,000 tonnes they could stop buying because they would have more than enough.

    This does not make sense……THE CENTRAL BANKS ACCUMULATE GOLD…..price goes down…….OH WAIT………..now I get it……………………..got gold…………..j

      CFS
      Feb 24, 2015 24:38 PM

      Central banks buy in the quasi-physical market. i.e. from other banks and by raiding ETFs like GLD. The price of gold is set in the paper market.
      The real question is how many pieces of worthless paper promises of gold will the public be holding when the REAL price of gold is finally established.

    Central banks..like the FED.accumulate what the Chaiman UNCLE BEN., said he thought was worthless,,,,Now they decide to buy. And since they have been buying the price goes DOWN……..what a HOOT….no LOOT THE PEOPLE…………………………..

      Feb 24, 2015 24:23 PM

      Human’s are sheeple Cool Cool is the way BUY BUY !

      Feb 24, 2015 24:02 PM

      Greenspan, wants us to buy Gold, it must be a trap! DT

        HA,HA…….DICK, YOU are quite the detective……nothing get past you…………..,.

        Feb 24, 2015 24:10 PM

        jesus GOD play THE green ?

        Feb 24, 2015 24:05 PM

        Guaranteed DT. His job is to keep some interest alive in the gold market even as it declines or there won’t be any money to be made by the scalpers. Notice the language he used? He said gold would be “measurably higher”. That is clever language really because all it tells you is gold might be a dollar more or 100 dollars more and so its not really a ringing endorsement. The gold campers will assume he implied thousands in gains though because their brains are hard-wired to receive any thin thread of good news on the gold front. Like hungry dogs who salivate readily when they hear Pavlovs bell, they are prepared for a feast even when no meal is available or forthcoming. Allan is screwing with the gold bugs basic psychology and their emotional weaknesses. Easy work and kind of funny actually. I told you old guys were clever!

    CFS
    Feb 24, 2015 24:41 PM

    Listen to tuesday’s Mark Levin and weep.

    http://podbay.fm/show/209377688/e/1424830342?autostart=1

    Feb 24, 2015 24:12 PM

    Focusing solely on government-held gold is misleading, particularly with Asian countries. The Indian public, for instance, holds over 20,000 tons of gold thereby dwarfing not only the 500 tons held by its own government but other governments as well.

    http://www.firstpost.com/business/economy/indians-sitting-on-a-goldmine-and-its-worth-1-trillion-58140.html
    http://archive.financialexpress.com/news/indians-hoard-20k-tonnes-gold-worth-record-1.16-trn/1037761

    The reason is simple. Back in 1970, 500 Indian rupees could be a typical middle-class monthly salary. Today it is the price of two pizzas in New Delhi. Talk about inflation! Over the last five decades the fiat Rupee has lost 99.5% of its purchasing power while that of gold has more than doubled. Which is why the Indian public routinely converts its savings into gold in spite of the drumbeat of government propaganda and those who think it is solely due to the public’s “fascination” with gold are ignorant of the lessons of history …

    Feb 25, 2015 25:00 AM

    Something to check: Theralase announced a share and warrant release for only Canada and knocked the US price down 25% so far. Could be they don’t want any part of the rigged US markets or to keep ownership concentrated in Canada. Just a question on what is going on.

    Feb 25, 2015 25:04 AM

    Theralase. Could be drop in US share value based on Canada value 44 cents has depressed in US rate of exchange. If so, should have thought about current value of shares against the dollar.