Daily Management Review

US gold dealers are facing shortage


03/31/2020


A shortage of gold bars and coins on the market has arisen due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, The Wall Street Journal writes. According to the newspaper, dealers sold or temporarily closed all stocks of gold, and the large Swiss financial conglomerate Credit Suisse Group AG, casting gold bullion since 1856, asked buyers to "not bother with requesting".



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Wall Street bankers turned to the Royal Canadian Mint for help. In turn, the Mint has already encountered "unprecedented" increased demand for gold bullions, said Amanda Bernier, the representative of the institution. According to her, the situation is complicated by the fact that some employees are temporarily not working in order to prevent the spread of the new type of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

The US gold reserve, which is not circulated for on the free market, is held at the Fort Knox military base in Kentucky and at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, WSJ points out.

In the event of a shortage of gold, business people in the United States usually replenish their reserves in London, where over 8.2 thousand tons of precious metal are stored. The metal is usually brought to New York in batches in safes on passenger aircraft. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, almost all international passenger traffic has been discontinued. This also resulted in suspension of precious metals mining in Peru and South Africa. 

source: wsj.com