A discreet crossroads for the world’s gold

Swissinfo.ch/Duc-Quang Nguyen/2-10-2017

“As a result, the customs office did not include in the export tallies the more than 2,000 tonnes of gold worth CHF80.5 billion that it said were “exported” in 2016, just slightly more than the Swiss pharma trade’s exports. By comparison, the Swiss gold export was roughly equal to Sri Lanka’s entire annual GDP in 2015 and accounts for about four-fifths of all the gold that the world extracts in a year (about 2,500 tonnes).”

MK note:  Remarkable. We’ve written extensively about the London-Zurich-Hong Kong-Shanghai gold pipeline.  These statistics demonstrate the breadth and depth of the physical gold market.  The ultimate source is London-based gold ETFs and London’s bullion banks.  The reason for the stop in Switzerland on the way to the East is to reconfigure the large 400-troy ounce LBMA good delivery bars to the 32.15 ounce kilo bars traded on the Shanghai and Hong Kong gold exchanges.