BullionStar Blogs

Anti-Gold Governments and Central Banks

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• BullionStar
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Do central banks understand gold? Do they care about gold? Are they “pro-gold” or “anti-gold”? I will try to shed some light on this frequently discussed subject. In this first post, I will discuss the gold policies of some countries’ often pointed out to make the case that central banks are discouraging private gold hoarding … Continue Reading

This Is What The AIIB Is About

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• Koos Jansen

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Until March 31 countries can submit for membership of the Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank (AIIB), a financial institution proposed by China, which has the purpose of being a multilateral framework to finance infrastructure projects in the wide Eurasian region. In recent weeks many Western countries have submitted for membership, the US rejected application as it fears … Continue Reading

When Will China Disclose Its True Official Gold Reserves?

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• Koos Jansen

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Things are heating up in the Chinese gold market First let’s go through the latest Shanghai Gold Exchange data and then we’ll continue to discuss the most recent developments regarding Chinese official gold reserves. Friday the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) released its trade report of week 11, 2015 (March 16 – 20). Withdrawals from the vaults, … Continue Reading

China Joining the New Gold Fix Will Mean Less Manipulation

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• Koos Jansen

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On March 24, 2015, Euronews broadcasted Business Middle East, in which Nour Al Hammoury from ADS securities, stated that if Chinese banks would join the new gold fix it would be less sensitive for manipulation. Having Chinese banks participate in the fix, would indeed be very welcome. If you like to read more about if Chinese … Continue Reading

The Largest Gold Mints Of The World

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• Koos Jansen

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The most recent data available suggests the US Mint is currently the largest mint on the planet in terms of production output, having produced 4.54 tonnes of gold in Eagles and Buffalos year to date (January and February 2015). The largest gold mints of the world are the Turkish State Mint, Chinese Mint, South African Mint, … Continue Reading

Indian Gold Imports Explode In March

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• Koos Jansen

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March has not even ended, though preliminary data indicates India has already imported over 130 tonnes of gold this month. Because of a “current account deficit" the Indian government decided in March 2012 to raise to import duty on gold from 2 % to 4 %, in June 2013 from 4 % to 8% and in … Continue Reading

Will the SGEI Facilitate Gold Inclusion Into the SDR?

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• Koos Jansen

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The Shanghai International Gold Exchange (SGEI) was launched in September 2014, to internationalize the Chinese gold market and the renminbi. The timing of the launch is quite remarkable though, in the context of changes in the international monetary system (IMS). 2015 is likely to force a major shift in the IMS. Two developments are worth … Continue Reading

Xinhua: China & Germany Deepen Financial Cooperation

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• Koos Jansen

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Guest Post BERLIN, March 17 (Xinhua) — China and Germany conducted their first high-level financial dialogue here on Tuesday and agreed to strengthen macro-economic policy coordination, develop policy dialogue and pragmatic cooperation in fiscal and financial areas. Representing China at the first China-Germany High Level Financial Dialogue, Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai said the... Continue Reading

SGE Withdrawals 51t In Week 10, YTD 508t

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• Koos Jansen

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Withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold exchange (SGE), which equal Chinese wholesale gold demand, in week 10 (March 9 – 13) accounted for 51 tonnes. Year to date total withdrawals have reached 508 tonnes. Chinese wholesale gold demand can be slightly less than what is disclosed because of withdrawals from the Shanghai International Gold Exchange. My … Continue Reading

London Gold Fixing Website Taken Offline

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• Ronan Manly
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(Update 23/03/2015: The www.goldfixing.com website was permanently switched off in the early morning of Monday 23rd March 2015) The last ever ‘Gold Fixing’ will take place on the afternoon of Thursday 19th March 2015 at 3.00pm. Following the last fixing, the www.goldfixing.com website of the London Gold Market Fixing Limited will be immediately and permanently … Continue Reading

UN Preparing For Global Sovereign Debt Restructuring

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• Koos Jansen

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An open letter to all pension funds The United Nations (UN) is preparing a Multilateral Legal Framework for Debt Restructuring Processes. At the highest level an orderly sovereign debt restructuring for developed countries is designed. As I’ve stated before on these pages, effectively the only thing Quantitative Easing (QE) can buy is time. Since 2008 our … Continue Reading

SGE Withdrawals In Perspective

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• Koos Jansen

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In 2014 SGE withdrawals, which can be used as a proxy for Chinese wholesale gold demand, have lost their accuracy since the Shanghai International Gold Exchange (SGEI) was launched in September, providing foreign enterprises to trade gold in renminbi, take delivery and export the gold from the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ). SGE and SGEI withdrawals … Continue Reading

China, Gold, SDRs & the Future of the Global Monetary System

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• Koos Jansen

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Possibly China’s national currency will be part of the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) this year. If so, this would have substantial implications for the international monetary system. Currently the SDR, which was invented in 1969 right after the London Gold Pool collapsed, consists of US dollars (41.9 %), Euros (37.4 %), Pound sterling (11.3 %) … Continue Reading

SGE Withdrawals 45t Week 9, YTD 456t

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• Koos Jansen

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Chinese wholesale gold demand, that equals withdrawals from the vaults of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), accounted for 45 metric tonnes in week 9 of 2015 (March 2 – 6). Year to date 456 tonnes have been withdrawn from the SGE vaults. An estimate suggests 340 tonnes has been net imported into the Chinese domestic … Continue Reading

BullionStar Financials 2014 – The Year in Review

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• BullionStar
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BullionStar financial oversight at the end of 2014. BullionStar reports 2014 gross revenue of SGD 53 M. The average order was SGD 6,475 whereas the medium order was SGD 1,018. BullionStar.com had more than 850,000 visits in 2014. By introducing new concepts to the bullion industry, BullionStar expects to continue to grow significantly in 2015. Continue Reading

Will Chinese Banks Participate in the New LBMA Auctions?

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• Ronan Manly
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There is a growing assumption in the financial media that a number of Chinese banks will be joining the new LBMA Gold Price auction as direct participants when the auction launches in London on Friday 20th March. This assumption is based on various sources, but primarily on a number of general comments made by the … Continue Reading

The Mechanics of the Chinese Domestic Gold Market

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• Koos Jansen

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This post is part of the Chinese Gold Market Essentials series. Click here to go to an overview of all Chinese Gold Market Essentials for a comprehensive understanding of the largest physical gold market globally. This post was updated until 2016. The largest physical gold market globally is the Chinese domestic gold market. At the core of this … Continue Reading

How The World Is Being Fooled About Chinese Gold Demand

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• Koos Jansen

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Kindly note the pattern There is a story being told to the masses about Chinese gold demand that is grossly incorrect. The huge discrepancy between numbers from the World Gold Council (WGC) and actual gold demand is so wide yet cunningly hidden I must conclude there is essential information about physical gold demand deliberately kept privy. … Continue Reading

Chinese Gold Financing Deals Explained

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• Koos Jansen

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One of the main causes some of my colleague gold analysts assume SGE withdrawals are inflated and cannot be used as a measure for Chinese wholesale gold demand, is because of Chinese Commodity Financing Deals (CCFDs). However, this analysis is incorrect as will be demonstrated in this post. Round Tripping And Chinese Gold Trade Rules CCFDs are … Continue Reading

Where Did The Gold In Fort Knox Come From? Part One

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• Koos Jansen

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In contrast to what is widely assumed, the gold in Fort Knox has not mainly been supplied by gold coins in circulation in the United States before the Great Gold Confiscation by President Roosevelt in 1933. Whilst me and Mr. Manly are researching how much gold is left in the vaults in the United States – … Continue Reading

The Bank of England and the London Gold Fixings in the 1980s

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• Ronan Manly
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With the current structure of the London gold price fixings disappearing in the very near future, there is an unusual story that I’d like to share about the gold fixings. It concerns the Bank of England’s ‘gold activities’ in the daily London Gold Fixings during the 1980s, and my attempts to get the Bank to explain … Continue Reading

1973 EU CBs Traded Gold In Secret At Free Market Price

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• Koos Jansen

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Another piece of the puzzle The more I read about it the more clear it becomes that the euro, at first a monetary block in Europe, was spawned right after the US abandoned gold in 1971. The European Community (EC) block was the biggest threat for the US hegemony in the seventies, if Europe would unite it could break the … Continue Reading

Austria Expresses Concern Over Their Gold At BoE

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• Koos Jansen

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Yesterday the Austrian Court of Audit (Der Rechnungshof) released a report on the Austrian central bank’s official gold reserves audits (Austria holds in total 280.0 metric tonnes). This report contains (official) critical notes regarding the safekeeping of the Austrian gold. The report is written in German, but from being Dutch (my native language is similar to … Continue Reading

SGE Chairman: India Will Become SGE’s Largest Partner

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• Koos Jansen

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The latest Indian Bullion Bulletin has just been released wherein the chairman of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) Xu Luode presents the SGE’s international ambitions – read below. The Chinese government regards the gold market as an indispensable component of China’s financial market and attaches great importance to its growth and development. The Shanghai International... Continue Reading

Nixon & Pompidou's Gold Meeting in 1971

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• Koos Jansen

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President of France Georges Pompidou, President of the United States Richard Nixon and National Security Advisor of the United States Henry Kissinger met on December 13 and 14, 1971, at the Azores to negotiate the value (rigging) of gold and all other major currencies in the world at the time. Three months prior to the … Continue Reading

Spotlight on Greece’s Gold Reserves and Grexit

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• Ronan Manly
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With the Greek Government and the Troika back in the news right now, it’s a good time to take a look at Greece’s official gold reserves and examine how much gold Greece claims to hold, where this gold might be located, and explore the impact that the European bailouts or a Greek Euro exit might have … Continue Reading

SGE Withdrawals 59 Tons in Week 6, YTD 374 Tons

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• Koos Jansen

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The latest numbers from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) demonstrate a little over 59 tonnes have been withdrawn from the vaults in week 6 of 2015, down 0.35 % w/w. SGE withdrawals, which are often used as a proxy for Chinese wholesale gold demand, account for an amazing 374 tonnes year to date, up 17 … Continue Reading

Willem Middelkoop: A New Gold Standard in the Making

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• Koos Jansen

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Written by Willem Middelkoop “Putin is the biggest gold bug”, was the title of a recent Bloomberg op-ed by Leonid Bershidsky the founding editor of Vedomosti, Russia’s top business daily. He explains why the Russian central bank has accumulated almost 100 tons of gold in the last four months of 2014. It is an acceleration … Continue Reading

Koos Jansen vs. WGC/GFMS/CPM Update

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• Koos Jansen

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Recently Thomson Reuters GFMS released its global gold demand figures for 2014 in which they stated Chinese demand was 866 tonnes. I briefly expanded on why I didn’t agree with this number by a humongous margin in my post from January 30 – as Chinese supply was at least 1,834 tonnes. Followed by a post released January … Continue Reading

The IMF’s Gold Depositories – Part 2, Nagpur and Shanghai

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• Ronan Manly
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Part 1 of the IMF’s Gold Depositories series explained the legal background as to why the IMF originally made the decision to hold gold at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Bank of England, the Banque de France and the Reserve Bank of India. See Part 1 for details, but as a quick … Continue Reading

SGE Gold Withdrawals 59t in Week 5. What is China Up To?

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• Koos Jansen

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The day after the World Gold Council (WGC) released Gold Demand Trends Full Year 2014 in which they audaciously pretend Chinese gold demand last year was 814 tonnes, we can read from the Chinese SGE trade report of week 5 withdrawals from the vaults have been 59 tonnes. Year to date (– February 6) withdrawals … Continue Reading

Is The $/Yen About To Take A Swan Dive?

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• Koos Jansen

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When I looked at the chart of the $/Yen I recognized the formation immediately. Here is the current chart of $/Yen. Notice the breakout to the upside of a flat-bottomed triangle. Now where did we see something similar? This is a chart of GLD going back five years. Notice how GLD topped, formed a flat … Continue Reading

The Keys to the Gold Vaults at the New York Fed – Part 3

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• Ronan Manly
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Part 1 of this series reviewed Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) publications that cover the Fed’s gold storage vaults in Manhattan, and illustrated how the information in these publications has been watered down over time. Part 1 also showed that the number of foreign central bank customers storing gold with the FRBNY has fallen substantially since the late … Continue Reading

Second Thoughts On U.S. Official Gold Reserves Audits

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• Koos Jansen

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This post is a sequel to “A First Glance At US Official Gold Reserves Audits”. What is not often covered in the media or blogosphere are the audits of the US official gold reserves stored at the US Mint, which is the custodian for 95 % (7716 tonnes) of the stash – nowadays also referred … Continue Reading

Total SGE Withdrawals 255t In January, Up 4% y/y

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• Koos Jansen

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In the last trading week of January another huge quantity of gold left the vaults of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE). According to the latest SGE data nearly 54 tonnes were withdrawn in week 4 (January 26 – 30), down 24 % w/w. Year to date a staggering 255 tonnes has been withdrawn, up 4 … Continue Reading

Belgium Denies Repatriating Gold From the UK

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• Koos Jansen

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Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad was reporting on Wednesday Belgium will repatriate 200 tonnes of gold from the Bank Of England (BOE). De Tijd is now stating the opposite, quoting the governor of the Belgian Central Bank (NBB) Luc Coene: The repatriation from the UK is not true…. There are other and more effective ways to … Continue Reading

Press Release: the World's First No-Spread Gold Bars!

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• BullionStar
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SINGAPORE: Singapore bullion dealer BullionStar Pte Ltd is launching the world’s first physical gold bar traded without any spread between the buy and sell price. BullionStar is offering its customers’ to buy and sell 100 gram gold bars at the exact same price. The obverse of the 100 gram gold bar. The obverse features BullionStar’s … Continue Reading

GFMS Reports Chinese Gold Trade Volume Incorrect By 100%

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• Koos Jansen

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Thomson Reuters GFMS, one of the leading consultancy firms regarding precious metals supply and demand data has recently released the GFMS Gold Survey 2014 – Update 2. From the report: Thomson Reuters’ supply and demand data are collected and collated by our team of research analysts based in Australia, China, Europe, India and the USA within … Continue Reading

NY Fed Gold Withdrawals Don’t Match Dutch-German Claims

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• Koos Jansen

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From January to December 2014 the Federal Reserve Bank Of New York (FRBNY) has been drained from 176.81 tonnes of physical gold out of the foreign deposit accounts. A drop from 6,195.60 tonnes to 6,018.79 tonnes over 12 months, FRBNY data published on Friday showed. The FRBNY doesn’t disclose how much is withdrawn by which … Continue Reading

BOOM: SGE Withdrawals Week 3, 2015: 71 tonnes!

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• Koos Jansen

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As I wrote last time on data from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), in week 2 of 2015 withdrawals from the vaults of the SGE (that equal Chinese wholesale demand) came in extremely high at 70 tonnes; the third highest amount ever. In week 3 (January 19 – 23), though, the Chinese withdrew even more at … Continue Reading

The IMF’s Gold Depositories – Part 1, The Legal Background

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• Ronan Manly
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the world’s third largest official sector holder of gold behind the United States and Germany. According to the Fund’s web site, as at October 2014 “the IMF holds around 90.5 million ounces (2,814.1 metric tons) of gold at designated depositories." The IMF’s gold holdings were accumulated between 1946 and … Continue Reading

The Keys to the Gold Vaults at the New York Fed – Part 2

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• Ronan Manly
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The FRBNY’s Auxiliary Vault As mentioned in Part 1 of Keys to the Gold Vaults at the New York Fed, there are two gold vaults at the New York Fed, the main vault and the auxiliary vault. Very little is written anywhere about the FRBNY’s auxiliary vault, or the ‘aux vault’ as it has sometimes been … Continue Reading

Netherlands Did Not Increase Gold Holdings In December

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• Koos Jansen

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Many newswires are reporting the Dutch central bank has increased its gold holdings by 10 tonnes in December 2014. However, the increase in holdings is not shown on the balance sheet of the central bank of the Netherlands. Just a moment ago the Dutch central bank (DNB) officially denied the increase of its precious metals holdings. … Continue Reading

2014 India Silver Imports At 7,063 Tonnes, Up 15%

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• Koos Jansen

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India’s customs department, the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCIS), just released the QUICK ESTIMATES FOR SELECTED MAJOR COMMODITIES for December 2014. According to DGCIS the figures for December are provisional and subject to change, however, I’ve been tracking these quick estimates for months and they are reasonably accurate – compared to... Continue Reading

Booming SGE Withdrawals in Week 2, 2015: 70 Tonnes

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• Koos Jansen

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Withdrawals from the vaults of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) in week 2 of 2015 (12 – 16 January) accounted for an incredible 70 metric tonnes. Aggregated withdrawals in the first two weeks of this year stand at 131 tonnes. Corrected by the volume traded on the Shanghai International Gold Exchange (SGEI), withdrawals in week … Continue Reading

Will Gold Be Part Of A New International Monetary System?

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• Koos Jansen

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Anyone who has been paying attention to the global economy the past years can agree with me our central bankers have conducted miserable monetary policy and have taken insufficient measures to fight crises. All major economies have embarked in printing unprecedented quantities of money, but the only thing they bought was time. Quantitative easing on such a scale … Continue Reading

The Keys to the Gold Vaults at the New York Fed – Part 1

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• Ronan Manly
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Over time, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) has become increasingly less transparent in sharing information about its Manhattan gold vaults. I use gold vaults in the plural because there are two gold vaults at the New York Fed’s headquarters, namely, the main vault and the auxiliary vault. During the 1970s, New York … Continue Reading

Germany Repatriates 120 Tonnes Of Gold In 2014

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• Koos Jansen

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The central bank of Germany, BuBa, has just released the numbers of their gold repatriation activities in 2014. More than expected the Germans shipped home 85 tonnes of gold from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), previously BuBa hinted at withdrawing 30 to 50 tonnes from New York in 2014, from France 35 tonnes … Continue Reading

Guest Post: A Theory On The Swiss Franc

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• Koos Jansen

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I have had a theory about markets for as long as I have watched gold. The theory is everything is about gold. Well, maybe not everything but close enough. Which is why the move by the SNB had me look at the charts. And those charts tell me a story that is very different from … Continue Reading

China Continues To Drain Global Gold Inventory

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• Koos Jansen

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Withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), the best indicator for Chinese wholesale demand, have been strong in 2014. In total 2,102 tonnes was loaded out from the SGE vaults. Mid 2014 withdrawals were relatively low, then they ramped up in September. In this post we’ll examine where this gold was sourced from. At this … Continue Reading