Australian bullion sales registered at milestone levels in first quarter 2021, according to figures from The Perth Mint of Australia. Weakened prices in precious metals supported bullion coin and bar demand, the Mint noted.
"The pullback in prices has led to a spike in demand for minted products," said Jordan Eliseo, Manager, Listed Products and Investment Research. "In Q1 2021, The Perth Mint sold more than 330,000 troy ounces of gold, and more than 4.5 million troy ounces of silver. These figures represent the highest calendar quarter on record for gold, and the fourth highest calendar quarter on record for silver."
Further, the Mint’s bullion sales in March ranked from solid for silver products to exceptional for gold products.
Mint sales for the month happened against a backdrop of plunging precious metals with LBMA prices in March marking declines of 3% for gold and 10.1% for silver. For the quarter, prices fell 10.6% for gold and they declined 9.4% for silver.
Bullion Sales in March and First Quarter 2021
Perth Mint sales of gold coins and gold bars reached above 130,000 ounces last month, marking increases of about 4.8% from February and 38.6% from March 2020.
First quarter 2021 gold sales of more than 330,200 ounces just over doubled the 164,995 ounces sold in first quarter 2020.
March sales of the Mint’s silver coins and silver bars reached nearly 1.6 million ounces, posting declines of about 12.6% from February and 7.9% from March of last year.
"Interest in silver is outstripping our capacity to convert plentiful supplies into finished goods," said Neil Vance, General Manager Minted Products.
The Mint’s first quarter silver sales of roughly 4,593,591 ounces are about 21% higher than the 3,792,351 ounces sold during the first three months of last year.
Perth Mint Gold and Silver Sales by Month
Below is a monthly summary of Perth Mint bullion sales from March 2020 to March 2021. The figures show monthly ounces of gold and silver shipped as minted products by The Perth Mint to wholesale and retail customers worldwide. It excludes sales of cast bars and other Group activities including sales of allocated/unallocated precious metal for storage by the Depository.
| Perth Mint Bullion Sales (in troy ounces) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Silver | Gold | |
| March 2021* | 1,600,000 | 130,000 |
| February 2021 | 1,830,707 | 124,104 |
| January 2021 | 1,162,884 | 76,103 |
| December 2020 | 941,767 | 76,806 |
| November 2020 | 1,119,296 | 84,158 |
| October 2020 | 1,228,713 | 38,367 |
| September 2020 | 1,677,383 | 62,637 |
| August 2020 | 1,431,036 | 67,462 |
| July 2020 | 1,567,900 | 56,104 |
| June 2020 | 1,573,752 | 44,371 |
| May 2020 | 997,171 | 63,393 |
| April 2020 | 2,123,121 | 120,504 |
| March 2020 | 1,736,409 | 93,775 |
*Perth Mint published approximated sales data for March. Specifically, the Mint stated that during March it shipped "more than 130,000 troy ounces of gold and almost 1.6 million troy ounces of silver."
