BullionStar Blogs

Central Banks’ Secrecy On Gold Storage Arrangements

• 29 Sept 2015 22:56
• Ronan Manly
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Whereas some central banks have become more forthcoming on where they claim their official gold reserves are stored (see my recent blog post ‘Central bank gold at the Bank of England‘), many of the world’s central banks remain secretive in this regard, with some central bank staff saying that they are not allowed to provide … Continue Reading

Switzerland Investigates Possible Collusion in Gold Trading

• 28 Sept 2015 08:12
• Koos Jansen

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Originally published at the portal of the Swiss government (translated by Markus M. Muller): The Swiss Competition Commission has started a investigation against the two Swiss Banks UBS and Julius Baer plus the foreign financial institutions Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Mitsui. The Commission has gained possible evidence, that the banks may have colluded in … Continue Reading

The London Float & PBoC Gold Purchases

• 25 Sept 2015 13:53
• Koos Jansen

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Did the PBOC covertly buy 1,747 tonnes of gold in London? This BullionStar blogpost is part of a chronological storyline. Please make sure you’ve read The Mechanics Of The Chinese Domestic Gold Market, PBOC Gold Purchases: Separating Facts from Speculation and The London Bullion Market And International Gold Trade, or it will be difficult to understand … Continue Reading

Central Bank Gold at the Bank of England

• 23 Sept 2015 01:05
• Ronan Manly
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In a recent article, “How many Good Delivery gold bars are in all the London Vaults?….including the Bank of England vaults“, I considered how much gold is actually in the London Gold Market, and highlighted how the amount of gold stored in the London wholesale market has fallen noticeably in recent years. That article highlighted … Continue Reading

The London Bullion Market & International Gold Trade

• 21 Sept 2015 09:14
• Koos Jansen

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Shortly after Ronan Manly released its epic post on 7 September 2015 about how much gold there is left in London, an email exchange started circulating among a small group of bloggers in a joint effort to figure out the apportionment between monetary and non-monetary gold in the capital of England. The group of bloggers consists … Continue Reading

New York & London Gold In Backwardation

• 17 Sept 2015 10:32
• Koos Jansen

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Not often in financial markets is the future price of gold is lower than the spot price (live), but lately we’ve witnessed such an event in both the New York and London gold market. This is called backwardation, the opposite of contango. What causes backwardation and will it increase the price of gold? In my … Continue Reading

Six Months on ICE – The LBMA Gold Price

• 16 Sept 2015 18:29
• Ronan Manly
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It’s now been 6 months since the LBMA Gold Price auction, the much touted replacement to the London Gold Fixings, was launched on an ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) platform on Friday 20 March 2015. For anyone not au fait with the gold price auction, the LBMA Gold Price is a twice daily auction that produces … Continue Reading

India Imported 138t Gold In August

• 15 Sept 2015 19:53
• Koos Jansen

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Last week I reported India had shipped in 126 tonnes of gold in August according to provisional data. Newswire The Economic Times today reports India has imported 138 tonnes of gold in August, which is 9 % more than my estimate. Year to date India has imported 666 tonnes of gold, up 69 % year on year. Annualized … Continue Reading

It’s Virtually Impossible to Get Physical Gold in London

• 10 Sept 2015 11:41
• Koos Jansen

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Just after my colleague Ronan Manly wrote a very extensive article on how much gold is left in London (not much), Petropavlovsk Chairman and Co-Founder Peter Hambro discusses gold at Bloomberg Television. He, like Manly, concludes there is very little physical gold left in London. From Mr Hambro: My baseline is they [the Chinese] have been buying … Continue Reading

India's Precious Metals Imports Surge

• 10 Sept 2015 07:04
• Koos Jansen

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In the month of August 2015, India imported 126 tonnes of gold and 1,400 tonnes of silver, according to data from Infodrive India. Gold import into India is rising after a steep fall due to government import restrictions implemented in 2013. Year-to-date India has imported 654 tonnes of gold, which is 66 % up year … Continue Reading

How Many Gold Bars Are in London's Vaults?

• 7 Sept 2015 19:19
• Ronan Manly
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Each year in June, the Bank of England publishes its annual report which quotes financial data up to the end of February (its financial year-end). The Bank’s annual report also states the amount of gold, valued at a market price in Pounds sterling, that it holds under custody for its customers, which comprise central banks, … Continue Reading

The LBMA’s Shifting Stance on Gold Refining Statistics

• 6 Sept 2015 18:39
• Ronan Manly
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On Friday 31st July 2015, I released an article discussing the sale of Swiss gold refiner Valcambi to Indian jewellery company Rajesh Exports. In my report, in a section about Valcambi’s annual gold refining capacity, I made passing reference to 2013 gold refining production statistics that had been published by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) … Continue Reading

BullionStar Fiscal 2015 – Year in Review

• 6 Sept 2015 16:16
• BullionStar
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BullionStar reported sales revenues of SGD 63.4 for FY 2015, up 43.8 % compared to FY 2014. The infographic below shows some of the highlights of the BullionStar’s financial year 2015. Continue Reading

Record Monthly Gold Exports From UK to China

• 4 Sept 2015 21:34
• Koos Jansen

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The UK net exported a record 32.4 tonnes of gold directly to China mainland in June 2015. In 2014 the conventional conduits of bullion flows to China, from all around the world first to Hong Kong and then to the mainland, have been replaced by direct exports. For example, the UK is exporting bullion directly to China … Continue Reading

The Concept of Money & the Money Illusion

• 2 Sept 2015 09:37
• Koos Jansen

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Awareness about the concept of money is making a comeback. Gone are the decades in which the global citizenry was fooled to leave this subject to economists, governments and banks – a setup that has proven to end in disaster. The crisis in 2008 has spawned debate about what money is, where it comes from … Continue Reading

Guest Post: Eurodollars and The Gold Market – Part One

• 31 Aug 2015 14:28
• Koos Jansen

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Written by Alexander Mirolyubov One of the most important factors driving the gold price is financial stress. When the latter is changing it always finds a resolution in the interest to the yellow metal. However, gold price adjustments can pass immediately or with some kind of delay. 
This time lag is important to gold investors … Continue Reading

Theory On China’s Gold Strategy

• 24 Aug 2015 07:41
• Koos Jansen

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Developments at the Chinese central bank (PBOC) hint at more moves towards gold. The most important recent gold developments are; (i) the PBOC updated its official gold reserves from 1,054 tonnes to 1,658 tonnes on 17 July, (ii) the PBOC devalued the renminbi by approximately 3 % on 11 August, (iii) the PBOC again updated … Continue Reading

BullionStar Featured on Channel 8 News

• 6 Aug 2015 08:27
• BullionStar
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The price of both gold and silver has fallen substantially during the last few weeks. This has ushered in a waive of physical gold and silver buying, with very large volumes and a lot of first time customers. When the largest channel for the mandarin speaking public in Singapore, Channel 8, made a news coverage … Continue Reading

The Bank of England’s Revealing Views On Gold in 1988

• 6 Aug 2015 01:48
• Ronan Manly
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Below is an interesting 1988 discussion paper on gold, written by Bank of England staff. The original paper can be found in pdf here. The United Kingdom’s gold reserves belong to HM Treasury (HMT) and are held in the Exchange Equalisation Account (EEA), but managed by the Bank of England on behalf of HMT. The discussion paper … Continue Reading

Swiss Gold Refineries and the Sale of Valcambi

• 31 Jul 2015 02:06
• Ronan Manly
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The normally low-key Swiss gold refining market has been thrown into the spotlight with the announcement that private company Valcambi, the world’s largest gold refinery, is being acquired by Indian group Rajesh Exports Ltd (REL), the world’s largest gold jewellery manufacturer. This acquisition is worth analysing for a number of reasons, namely will the Valcambi-Rajesh... Continue Reading

The Misinterpretation of Money

• 21 Jul 2015 05:37
• BullionStar
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In its simplest form, money is a substitution for barter to make trade more efficient (formally: medium of exchange) but money is also a means for generating production by allowing for saving and investment (store of value) and for accounting and reconciliation (unit of account). Different economic schools view money differently. Even for the doctrines advocating … Continue Reading

Analyzing PBOC Official Gold Reserves Increment

• 19 Jul 2015 03:41
• Koos Jansen

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As always, please make sure you’ve read The Mechanics Of The Chinese Domestic Gold Market before continuing. Finally last Friday the People’s Bank Of China (PBOC) updated its official gold reserves, from 1,054 tonnes, a figure reported since 2009, to 1,658 tonnes. Most gold analysts expected a number substantially higher than what was just disclosed. In this … Continue Reading

Paper vs. Physical Gold & Silver in Times of Crisis

• 15 Jul 2015 09:53
• BullionStar
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The Past Fortnight It has been a tense, volatile and dramatic fortnight to say the least. In fickle fashion, Greece went from ‘No!’ to ‘Yes!’ with the terms of the deal seemingly less in their favour then before. In volatile fashion, the Shanghai Composite Index crashed and “recovered" when the Chinese government tighten margin requirements for … Continue Reading

Gold Price & Gold Demand

• 8 Jul 2015 13:37
• BullionStar
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This interview with Torgny Persson and Gustav Andersson from BullionStar was conducted by the Singaporean blogger SG Wealth Builder 8 July 2015. Question: In view of the emergence of China as the leading producer and importer of gold bullion, what do you think would be the implications for the global markets and how should investors in … Continue Reading

China Rapidly Changing International Gold Market

• 7 Jul 2015 08:02
• Koos Jansen

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Since 2007 China has the largest domestic gold mining output, since 2011 the Shanghai Gold Exchange has been the largest physical gold exchange and in 2013 and 2014 China was the largest importer. Now the Chinese seek to escalate pricing power. From the beginning of the liberalization of China’s gold market in 2002, the governor … Continue Reading

How Much Are Chinese Gold Reserves?

• 6 Jul 2015 11:55
• Koos Jansen

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There has been much speculation about a slide from chairman and secretary-general of the China Gold Association Zhang Bingnan presented at the LBMA forum in Shanghai June 25, 2015. The slide states Chinese gold reserves are 9,816.03 tonnes, however, this refers to in ground mining reserves. I have never received so many emails and tweets as … Continue Reading

Oxi (No) is the Vote; Increased Demand For Gold

• 6 Jul 2015 03:17
• BullionStar
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PRESS RELEASE 6th July 2015 For immediate release Singapore: Demand for physical gold has increased significantly in the last week leading up to the Greek referendum and is expected to continue to increase following Sunday’s outcome of the referendum with 61 % voting No. Mr. Torgny Persson, CEO of BullionStar Pte Ltd says: ”Demand for … Continue Reading

Global Financial Turmoil, Gold Price Doesn’t Move

• 4 Jul 2015 22:07
• Koos Jansen

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It’s remarkable the Greek tragedy has had no influence on the gold price in recent weeks. We’ve heard repeatedly Europe and Greece could not reach a deal for an extended bailout, are financial markets suffering from Euroscrisis fatigue? Team Dijsselbloem-Juncker states they stretched all they could and offered the Greek government a reasonable deal that … Continue Reading

Former U.S. Mint Director Clueless On Gold In Fort Knox

• 1 Jul 2015 16:04
• Koos Jansen

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The Curious Case Of Edmund C. Moy Former US Mint director Ed Moy has made numerous false and self-contradictory statements regarding the gold at Fort Knox – a facility managed by the US Mint. The is post is a sequel to A First Glance At US Official Gold Reserves Audits, Second Thoughts On US Official Gold Reserves Audits and … Continue Reading

Gold Fund To Serve The New Strategy Of The Silk Road

• 29 Jun 2015 10:33
• Koos Jansen

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Not surprisingly there is little official documentation on the recently launched Silk Road Gold Fund. However, the translation below (original article published on ifeng) provides an intriguing insight at what this Fund is about. On May 22 Chinese financial policy makers from the PBOC, Chinese gold industry executives from commercial banks, mining companies, the Shanghai Gold Exchange... Continue Reading

Pre-2015 London Gold Fixings Were Surprisingly Sophisticated

• 23 Jun 2015 01:19
• Ronan Manly
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The financial media has recently pitched the transition of the London daily gold fixings to an ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) platform as a quantum leap from an antiquated Victorian-era process to a futuristic 21st century electronic auction. For example, the Wall Street Journal recently said that: “Four of the banks…had participated in the conference call used to... Continue Reading

Strong Withdrawals From China & Hong Kong Gold Vaults

• 21 Jun 2015 18:38
• Koos Jansen

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From June 8 – 12 withdrawals from SGE certified vaults in China mainland and CME Kilobar vaults in Hong Kong accounted 76 for tonnes. Withdrawals from the vaults of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) and Shanghai International Gold Exchange (SGEI) came in elevated for this time a year at 46 tonnes in week 23 (June 8 … Continue Reading

Gold in Bank of England Custody Drops 351t

• 18 Jun 2015 10:29
• Koos Jansen

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The Bank Of England (BOE) has recently released its annual report in which it’s disclosed the gold held in custody for a range of customers was 5,134 metric tonnes on February 28, 2015, down 351 tonnes (6 %) form the previous year. The data on gold in custody at the BOE is disclosed in billions of Great British … Continue Reading

Koos Jansen Interviews Gold Futures Trader Petko Bankoff

• 17 Jun 2015 12:36
• Koos Jansen

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Out of my interest in every participant in the gold market – not only physical gold advocates – I’ve interviewed gold futures trader Petko Bankoff from Bulgaria. Thanks Petko for your time to answer my questions! What’s your background? I graduated the High School of Maths and Natural Sciences with the specialty “Earth sciences and English … Continue Reading

Bank of China Joins LBMA Gold Price (London Gold Fix)

• 16 Jun 2015 10:17
• Koos Jansen

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Originally published by the LBMA. Tuesday 16th June 2015. LBMA Gold Price – Bank of China joins as new participant. The LBMA today is pleased to announce that the Bank of China has been approved by ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) to participate in the LBMA Gold Price auction process, administered by IBA. On 20 March, … Continue Reading

Gold Replacing the U.S. Dollar as Reserve Asset

• 16 Jun 2015 02:39
• BullionStar
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The title to this blog post may feel contradictory as the US Dollar has appreciated against all other major currencies during the last year. One year ago, it took 74 euro-cents to buy one US Dollar, today it takes 89 euro-cents. Source: BullionStar Charts The US has for most of the last half century been … Continue Reading

Rectifying Chinese Gold Trading Rules

• 15 Jun 2015 15:10
• Koos Jansen

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I’ve found more detailed rules on the workings of the Chinese gold market regarding, (i) the use of onshore renminbi for contracts traded on the Shanghai International Gold Exchange (SGEI), (ii) gold sales of Chinese domestic gold mines. Previously I’ve written posts on these subjects that contained inaccurate information that I would like to correct. … Continue Reading

Western Consultants' False Arguments About SGE Withdrawals

• 13 Jun 2015 12:08
• Koos Jansen

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More false arguments – that should explain the difference between Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) withdrawals and Chinese gold demand as disclosed by the World Gold Council – are being spread in the gold space. The most recent argument is gold export from China. Since 2013 I’ve been writing the World Gold Council (WGC) is grossly … Continue Reading

Back to Basics: Debt 101

• 12 Jun 2015 05:10
• BullionStar
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Debt makes the world go round – Anon. Money at present, as we covered in the previous chapter, is merely a debt that a government owes you that can be used to pay for another debt of your choice. Now, if money – the basic medium of all transactions – is debt, what happens when this translates into something a bit more … Continue Reading

The Redeployment of Asia’s Forex Reserves

• 9 Jun 2015 23:48
• Koos Jansen

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China’s New Silk Road initiatives provide it with a way to use its huge pile of foreign exchange, and its gold-buying could lead to more balanced international monetary regime By Miriam L. Campanella and Koos Jansen Originally published on Caixin Online. The New Silk Road initiatives, also known as the “One Belt, One Road" plan, … Continue Reading

The World Gold Council's Funding Model

• 9 Jun 2015 17:55
• Ronan Manly
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In a little noticed development at the end of March 2015, World Gold Council (WGC) member company Newcrest Mining of Australia ceased to be a member of the WGC, thereby reducing the Council’s membership from 19 to 18 gold mining companies. Newcrest Mining is one of the world’s largest gold mining companies and Australia’s largest … Continue Reading

Media Failure On Russian Gold Reserves

• 5 Jun 2015 12:10
• Koos Jansen

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Last week I wrote how I can disagree with other media, be it mainstream or alternative, Chinese, Russian or English, on the reporting of the gold market. This week another perfect example came by, from Russian news outlet Sputnik International. According to this press agency the Russian Central Bank (CBR) currently holds 360 billion US … Continue Reading

U.S. Government Lost 7 Fort Knox Gold Audit Reports

• 2 Jun 2015 16:25
• Koos Jansen

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There Is No Proof All Gold Is In Fort Knox This post is a sequel to A First Glance At US Official Gold Reserves Audits and Second Thoughts On US Official Gold Reserves Audits. Every year the gold in Fort Knox is ‘audited’ by checking the official joint seals that were placed on all vault … Continue Reading

Will the Yuan Renminbi Be Fully Convertible in 2015?

• 30 May 2015 10:59
• Koos Jansen

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Let us begin by looking at withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), as this is the best indicator for demand in the Chinese wholesale market – read this post for the mechanics of the Chinese gold market. In week 20 (May 18 – 22) withdrawals accounted for 43 tonnes, down 6.57 % week on week, but … Continue Reading

Don’t Believe Everything You Read On The Internet

• 26 May 2015 10:18
• Koos Jansen

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Wholesale gold demand measured by withdrawals from Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) vaults remains very strong this year at 45 tonnes in week 19 (May 11 -15). Year to date 903 tonnes have been withdrawn. Year to date withdrawals are up 20 % from 2014 and 8 % from 2013. In the next chart we can … Continue Reading

Interview With Koos Jansen, Torgny Persson, and Ronan Manly

• 24 May 2015 19:00
• BullionStar
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Interview with BullionStar’s three bloggers, Mr. Koos Jansen, Mr. Ronan Manly and BullionStar’s CEO, Mr. Torgny Persson, sharing their opinions of the current monetary system, gold and central banks. Koos Jansen Torgny Persson … Continue Reading

Xinhua: China Sets Up Gold Fund For Central Banks

• 23 May 2015 20:54
• Koos Jansen

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On May 12, 2015, I reported China’s Silk Road economic project would include gold business. A month prior to that Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) chairman Xu Luode had “proposed to integrate gold market development into the strategic development plan of the Silk Road”. Shortly after, in early May it was announced gold mining company Polyus … Continue Reading

Austria Repatriates 110 Tonnes From UK

• 22 May 2015 15:59
• Koos Jansen

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Austria is repatriating gold from the vaults at the Bank Of England (BOE) at this very moment, according to Kronen Zeitung. The OeNB (central bank of the Republic of Austria) stored 82 % of its 280 tonnes at the depository in England. It will start by bringing back 110 tonnes to Austria, to eventually have 50 … Continue Reading

Chinese Gold Leasing Not What It Seems

• 22 May 2015 08:27
• Koos Jansen

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Welcome to another episode of understanding how mainstream consultancy firms (the World Gold Council, GFMS, CPM Group, Precious Metals Insights) understate Chinese gold demand. One of their main arguments is that hundreds if not thousands of tonnes are tied up in Chinese Commodity Financing Deals (CCFDs). As it was first stated by the World Gold Council … Continue Reading

Back to Basics: Money 101

• 18 May 2015 00:00
• BullionStar
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Money’s a matter of functions four, A Medium, a Measure, a Standard, a Store. – William Stanley Jevons, Money and the Mechanism of Exchange (1875) As this simple poetic stanza rolls off your tongue in military-like cadence, it encapsulates the very definition of money with unrivaled precision and simplicity. This is Money 101. Money is: 1. A … Continue Reading