Switzerland: Customs duties will also affect gold bars

The price of gold reached a new record Friday in New York, the American authorities having specified that the new customs taxes imposed by President Donald Trump also applied to certain ingots. According to this update, detailed in a document dated July 31 but made public on Friday, the gold bars of one kilogram and those of 100 ounces are classified as subject to taxes by the American customs authorities.

The market, which expected that the ingots were classified under a customs code excluding them from these surcharges in force on Thursday, expressed “its shock and its confusion”, notes Han Tan, analyst at Nemo.Money, interviewed by AFP.

Gold course

After the dissemination of the information, initially reported Thursday by the Financial Times, the price of gold (for delivery in December) on the New York raw material stock exchange, the COMEX, reached a summit of 3534.10 dollars perce (31.1 g). Around 2:45 p.m. GMT (4:45 p.m. in Paris), he was 3,488.40 dollars.

This market “is often used by investment banks around the world” to cover itself with variations in gold “on the physical market”, AFP Ole Hansen, Saxo Bank.

But on its equivalent negotiated in London, which “mainly reflects the current situation of supply and demand” of the moment, the gold was evolving around 14:55 GMT at 3,389.22 dollars, more than $ 110 from its historic record recorded in April.

Gold demand – and with it its course – had already exploded earlier this year across the Atlantic, American buyers seeking to accumulate stocks in forecasts of possible surcharge on this metal, so far spared by the customs offensive of Donald Trump. This year, the price of gold also benefited from its status of refuge value in the face of commercial and geopolitical uncertainties, and a weakening of the dollar, also considered as a safe asset.

Impact for Switzerland

For Switzerland, a high place in gold refining, this is a new blow, while the Alpine country was inflicted on Thursday of heavy surcharge of 39% on its products imported into the United States. Switzerland “often serves as a hub for refining between the London market, which is generally negotiated in ingots 400 ounces (12.44 kg), and smaller sizes, mainly exchanged and accepted on the American market, ”specifies Ole Hansen, analyst of Saxo Bank.

“During the past year, Switzerland sent $ 61.5 billion in gold across the Atlantic”, of which “two fifths pass through the United States”, underlines Stephen Innes, analyst at SPI AM. It “is now risking a slap of $ 24 billion” of surcharge.

AFP

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