gold, page-74880

"These last few months have seen demand for metal at levels not seen before. Some of the biggest bullion dealers in Australia have struggled to maintain supply of gold and backorders for silver the norm, for some out as long as July delivery. Premiums have risen as refiners pay more for the raw metal and freight costs spike on reduced freight avenues. Perth Mint has long since stopped taking orders for any minted gold, gold coins (except 1oz Kangaroos), minted silver, any cast silver bar excepting 1kg, and any silver coins allowing them to concentrate on core products of cast gold bars, cast silver kilos and working in the background through a massive 1oz Kangaroo coin backlog.

Last week we shared the Silver Institute survey which showed Perth Mint sold 12.7m silver coins last year ranking them 3^rd after Maples and American Silver Eagles.

We also reported recently on the big gold supply issue affecting COMEX and LBMA (here and here). We always maintain a large number of kilo Perth Mint gold bars but of late the supply has slowed. That mystery was solved on Friday when Bloomberg reported:

“Australia’s largest gold refinery has ramped up production of one kilogram bars to ease the supply squeeze in the U.S. that helped propel a surge in the premium for New York futures.

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