Central Banks Continue To Increase Their Gold Acquisitions
While central banks continuing to ramp-up their gold acquisitions may not be a “game changer” or “all you need to know”, it is very significant. If there was something closer to a 5-15% increase year-over-year it wouldn’t matter at all, that would closer to “normal” or within the realm of expectations. In my opinion, once you breach the 25% mark for Y-O-Y increase that’s a significant change and once you breach 50%, well, that’s when we should pay attention to see how the next leg unfolds.
What makes this even more significant is the fact that 2018 was such a huge year for central bank gold acquisitions. If these banks, that are now officially de-dollarizing, had made this jump from nothing that would be something to grab your attention but the fact this massive increase is on top of the largest acquisitions in decades should get everyone’s attention. Here’s the thing – while these numbers can be “painted” or manipulated it is somewhat more difficult with the variety of reporting agencies, mining records, bank records and other “official” agencies all paying attention to a barbarous relic and, according their own words is nothing more than a pet-rock and is not money, but it is gold and physical gold matters.
First-quarter gold purchases by central banks, led by Russia and China, were the highest in six years as countries diversify their assets away from the U.S. dollar.
Global gold reserves rose 145.5 tons in the first quarter, a 68 percent increase from a year earlier, the World Gold Council said Thursday in a report. Russia remains the largest buyer as the nation reduces its U.S. Treasury holdings as part of a de-dollarization drive.
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As well as regular buyers such as Kazakhstan and Turkey, the first quarter also saw Ecuador adding to its reserves for the first time since 2014, plus sizable purchases by Qatar and Colombia, the council said. The buyers are dominated by countries looking to reduce their dollar dependency, and are typically nations with a lower share of reserves in gold than Western European countries.
Central bank purchases have been a key support for gold, helping to offset lower demand from bar and coin investors as well as from industrial users of the metal. Gold has climbed almost 8 percent since the end of September, and was trading at about $1,282 an ounce in London on Wednesday. Source
When you see more and more countries enter the gold acquisitions markets it may be time to begin paying attention. We saw a number of countries re-enter the gold market in 2018 and we are seeing this trend continue in the first quarter of 2019. Keep in mind these are nations that are heavily involved with either the SCO or BRI or both. These nations are going to need physical gold as we reported, and continually remind readers, that gold is going to be part of the trade settlement along the BRI. That was one of the first serious conversations when the BRI began to take root.
What Is The Real Mine Supply Number?
On the supply side our thoughts on the mega-mergers, which we have shared on a number of occasions, is the gold supplies are beginning to subside. There are serious ongoing problems in South Africa’s gold mining community and new large scale gold mines seem to be a thing of the past. Now we learn the problem is as such the World Gold Council is going to “revise” “artisan” gold mines. What percentage did they account for in the past? Why the change? I have searched several avenues to find out more about this mine supply but everything is either behind a paid subscription or unavailable. If anyone has information about the actual number of tons of supply on an annual basis – for any year – it would be helpful.
On the supply side, World Gold Council revised its estimates for the contribution of small-scale, “artisanal,” miners, following a reassessment by its primary data provider Metals Focus Ltd. The sector is estimated to account for 15 to 20 percent of global gold mine production. Source
Is this the gold that has been used in the manipulation / price suppression scheme? Is this where all the “mystery” gold has been flowing over the past decade as the gold-bugs have been questioning where China has been acquiring all the gold flowing through the Shanghai Gold Exchange while the overall global gold supply never seem to change?
20% of any market – widgets, cars, corn, houses, gold – is a massive impact and for the WGC to simply ignore this gargantuan amount of gold brings into question what they are not reporting this is to say nothing of their credibility as a global voice for the gold market.
To put this into proper perspective the global gold market is approximately 2,400 tons per annum, ex China. That means we are talking about approximately 480 tons of gold annually – for how many years????? This shows the WGC is nothing more than a satanic globalist organization designed to spread disinformation.
With no point of reference it is, literally, impossible to have any idea of the impact on past supplies and going forward it will be a range of “15 to 20% providing a 5% swing. This is a joke
