U.S. Gold Imports Recorded 6% Downtick Through May This Year

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. imports of gold dropped significantly by over 6% during the opening five months of the current year. The data published by the U.S. Census Bureau suggests marginal jump in gold export volumes by the country during the above mentioned period.

The gold imports during Jan-May ’18 were valued at $4.29 billion through the first five months of 2018, down 6.1% when matched with the corresponding period a year before. The U.S. gold imports had totaled $4.56 billion in Jan-May ’17. The monthly imports, by value, totaled $892.33 million for the month of May ’18 alone.

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The topmost source of imports by the U.S was Mexico. The imports from that country totaled $1.46 billion, accounting for over 34% of the total U.S. imports. In second place was Canada ($820.66 million), followed by Peru ($770.03 million) in third spot. The other key sources of import were Colombia ($264.24 million) and Brazil ($179.01 million). The U.S. imported $3.4 billion worth of gold from the above top five sources, representing more than 81% of the total imports during the initial five-month period of 2018.

Meantime, the U.S. exports of gold increased marginally by 1.19% through May this year to total $9.2 billion. This is when compared with the exports of $9.09 billion during the corresponding five-month period last year. The exports totaled $1.23 billion in May ’18. It must be noted that the full-year exports had totaled $19.82 billion in 2017.

The top five trade partners were the U.K. ($3.08 billion), Switzerland ($2.03 billion), Hong Kong ($1.84 billion), India ($841.21 million) and China ($570.48 million). These top five export destinations accounted for more than 90% of the total U.S. gold exports during Jan-May ’18. The shipments through John F. Kennedy International Airport rose sharply by 24%, whereas those through Los Angeles International Airport fell drastically by nearly 45% year-on-year.