Earlier this year, the director of marketing and sales at the Austrian
Mint confirmed to Bloomberg in an interview
that the Mint’s combined gold bar and gold coin sales in 2015 had totalled
1.32 million troy ounces, a 45% increase on 2014, while the Mint’s silver
sales in 2015 had reached 7.3 million ounces, a figure 58% higher than in
2014.
Since Münze Österreich, or the Austrian Mint in English, only publishes
its annual report in July of each year, we had to wait a few months to see
the granular details behind these sales numbers. Now that the Austrian
Mint’s 2015 Annual Report has been published, the detailed sales figures
are as follows.
Gold Philharmonics – 23.5 tonnes
In 2015, the Austrian Mint sold 756,200 troy ounces (23.52 tonnes) of Vienna
Philharmonic gold coins, of which 647,100 troy ounces (20.18 tonnes) were
in the form of its flagship 1 oz Vienna Philharmonics, with the remainder
comprising ½ oz, ¼ oz, 1/10 oz and 1/25 oz gold Philharmonic coins, as well
as a handful of the Mint’s very large 20 oz gold Philharmonics. Gold
Philharmonic sales in 2015 were 56% higher than comparable sales of 483,700
ozs in 2014, and were also higher than 2013’s figure of 652,600 ozs.
Sales of the Vienna Mint’s flagship 1
oz gold Philharmonic accounted for the lion’s share of gold coin sales
Gold Bars – 16.3 tonnes
Turning to gold bars, the Mint sold 524,722 troy ounces (16.32 tonnes) of
its branded gold bars in 2015, over half of which comprised sales of 1 kg,
500 gram and 250 gram gold bars. The 2015 gold bar sales were nearly 28%
higher than 2014 gold bar sales of 410,300 ozs, but slightly less than 2013’s
comparable sales of 711,200 ozs.
The Mint’s larger bars were the most
popular in terms of total gold output
In addition to gold Philharmonic coins and gold bars, the Austrian Mint
also produces a series of historic re-strikes of original Austrian
circulation gold coins in the form of gold ducats, gold guilders and gold
crowns. In 2015, sales of these gold re-strike coins, mostly ducats,
accounted for 37,700 troy ounces of gold (1.17 tonnes), which was a 128%
increase on the previous year’s sales of 16,500 ozs.
Overall, in 2015, the Austrian Mint sold gold coins (Philharmonics and
historic coins) and gold bars containing 1,318,700 ozs (41 tonnes) of
gold. In 2015, the gold Vienna Philharmonic’s largest markets were
Europe followed by Japan
and North America, and notably the gold Philharmonic was the best-selling
major gold bullion coin in both the European and the Japanese markets.
Silver Philharmonics – Strong North American sales
As the Austrian Mint does not fabricate silver bars, the Mint’s silver
bullion sales are exclusively from the silver coins it produces, specifically
the 1
ounce silver Vienna Philharmonic coin. In 2015, the Mint sold 7.3 million
silver bullion coins containing 227 tonnes of silver. The largest markets for
silver coin sales were North America, followed by Europe. Silver sales in
2015 were also notable in that it was the first time that the Mint’s silver
coins sales in the North American market surpassed those in Europe.
The Mint’s silver coin range also includes historic re-strikes of a Maria
Theresa Taler coin in uncirculated and proof editions. These coins contain
23.39 grams of pure silver (approximately 0.2 tonnes). These coin sales are
classified separately from silver bullion coin sales and their sales are
quite minimal. In 2015, sales of these Taler coins reached 9,777 pieces,
slightly down on 2014’s sales of 11,470 pieces.
Gold Bullion Sales Drove Total Revenues
In terms of Austrian Mint revenues, gold bullion coins (gold
Philharmonics) generated revenues of €788.9 million in 2015, up 70% on
2014’s €464.2 million. Gold Philharmonics were also 48.5% of total Mint
revenues in 2015. Gold bar revenues of €547.3 million were 40% higher than in
2014, and accounted for another 34% of all Mint revenues. Silver coin sales
in 2015 reached €111.3 million, 58% higher than in 2014. Adding revenues from
gold coin re-strikes of €40.4 million, the total revenues from gold and
silver coin products reached €1.37 billion, which was 84.7% of total Mint
revenues for 2015.
Gold coin and gold bar revenues account for
over 80% of the Mint’s total revenues
In terms of revenues, annual gold sales at the Austrian Mint are far
higher than its silver sales. In volume terms, the Austrian Mint also
produces more gold products than its counterparts but far less silver
products than its counterparts. So the Austrian Mint could be said to be a
gold specialist.
For example, in 2015, and just looking at bullion coin sales, the US Mint
sold gold bullion coins (American Eagles and American Buffalos) containing
31.8 tonnes of gold, but silver bullion coins (predominantly American Eagles)
containing 1,495 tonnes of silver. Likewise, in 2015, the Royal Canadian Mint
sold gold bullion coins (gold Maple Leafs) containing 29.6 tonnes of gold,
and silver bullion coins (silver Maple Leafs) containing 1067 tonnes of
silver.
Based on 2015 volumes sold of 227 tonnes of silver coins and 24.69 tonnes
of gold coins, the Austrian Mint had a silver coin sales to gold coin sales
ratio of only 9.19, whereas comparable ratios for the US Mint and Royal
Canadian Mint were 47 and 36, respectively.
For more analysis on the bullion sales patterns of the world’s largest
precious metals mints, please see BullionStar blog “Bullion
coin sales boost revenues of world’s largest Mints“.
Ronan Manly
E-mail Ronan Manly on:
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