The Perth Mint achieved the highest calendar quarter gold sales on record, while gold and silver prices continued to weaken across March.
The Perth Mint sold more than 130,000 troy ounces of gold and a near 1.6 million of troy ounces of silver during March, with gold sales representing a 285 per cent uplift, and silver sales 178 per cent higher, than average monthly sales dating back to 2012.
The Perth Mint outlined several factors contributing to the sell-off, which has seen the US dollar gold price pullback by almost 20 per cent since it hit all-time highs in August 2020.
Meanwhile, the precious metal prices dropped in the first three months of 2021, gold falling by 11 per cent and silver by 9 per cent.
The Perth Mint listed products and investment research manager Jordan Eliseo said the pullback in prices had led to a spike in demand for minted products.
“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,” Mr Eliseo said.
“These figures represent the highest calendar quarter on record for gold, and the fourth highest calendar quarter on record for silver.”
General manager minted products Neil Vance said coin production in March took up where February left off, with above average demand in key markets such as the United States and Germany.
“The market continues to take everything we can make at present,” Mr Vance said.
“Production remains concentrated on our most popular 1oz Kangaroo coins and while we just about satisfied demand for gold this month, interest in silver is outstripping our capacity to convert plentiful supplies into finished goods.”
Holdings of Perth Mint Gold (ASX: PMGOLD) fell by 1.5 per cent in March 2021, with the outflows seeing total holdings in PMGOLD decline to 230,279 troy ounces (just over 7.15 tonnes).
