U.S. Gold Imports Plunged 13% in First Quarter

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. imported significantly reduced volume of gold during the initial quarter of the current year. The latest statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates considerable decline in gold imports by the country during Q1 this year. The gold exports too recorded decline during the three-month period.

The U.S. gold imports were valued at $2.57 billion through the first three months of 2018. The imports dropped sharply by 13% when compared with the corresponding three-month period in 2017. The U.S. gold imports had totaled $2.95 million during Q1 last year. The yearly imports had totaled $11.07 billion during the whole year 2017.

The key gold supplier to the U.S was Mexico. The imports from that country were valued at $907.32 million. The second major source of gold import during Q1 this year was Canada. The supplies from Canada totaled $523.93 million. In third place was Peru, whose gold exports to the U.S. totaled $478.42 million. The other main import sources were Colombia ($147.37 million) and Nicaragua ($97.94 million).

ALSO READ: WGC: Gold Demand in Q1 2018 Collapsed to Decade Low Level

The gold imports from the above five countries totaled $2.15 billion, accounting for nearly 84% of the total gold imports during the three-month period.

Meantime, the country’s exports of gold too reported marginal decline over the previous year. The exports totaled $6.04 billion during the opening three months of 2018. The top five export destinations were the UK ($1.93 billion), Switzerland ($1.41 billion), Hong Kong ($1.41 billion), India ($433.33 million) and China ($309.9 million).

The combined exports to the above five top foreign markets totaled $5.493 billion, accounting for more than 90% of the total U.S. exports in Q1 2018. At the current rate of imports, the yearly imports in 2018 are likely to surpass those during the previous year. The 2018 full year imports are projected at $24.16 billion, significantly higher when compared with the exports of $19.82 billion during the whole of 2017.