Swiss Gold Exports to US Surge to Record on Tariff Fears

(Bloomberg) — Gold exports to the US from Europe’s main refining hub in Switzerland surged to the highest level on record in January, after tariff fears sparked a rush to bring gold to the US.

Switzerland shipped 193 metric tons of gold to the US, the highest monthly export figure in data going back to January 2012. The massive outflow of gold in January, worth over $18 billion, is greater than the comparable figure for the entirety of 2024.

Gold prices on the New-York based Comex futures exchange surged to a premium over international benchmarks in January, as traders looked to close out short positions, fearing that gold could become subject to tariffs. 

Premiums of as much as $50 an ounce for Comex gold futures opened up over spot prices in the London market, creating a profitable opportunity to close out those futures positions by delivering metal into US warehouses.

Gold can’t be typically be flown straight from London, the largest bullion trading hub, to deliver against Comex, because the two markets use different sizes of bars. 

In the London market, 400-ounce bars are the standard, while for the New York contracts traders must deliver 100-ounce or kilobars. That means the gold to be delivered against Comex typically needs to be refined in Switzerland, before being sent on to the US. 

More than 20 million troy ounces, worth about $60 billion, have entered the depositories of New York’s Comex exchange since the day of the US presidential election.

Total gold exports from Switzerland almost doubled month-on-month to 225 metric tons, according to the data on website of Swiss Federal Customs Administration.

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