Gold sales jump 45% at Austrian Mint thanks to negative rates

In the wake of a new analysis from the World Gold Council suggesting that golds price performance can double under negative interest rates comes a Bloomberg report showing a major mints bullion sales are booming. One reason given: negative rates.

Austria’s mint, Muenze Oesterreich AG, which makes the popular gold Philharmonic coins, is reporting that its 2015 sales of gold bars and coins have jumped 45% versus 2014s totals, with 1.32 million ounces moved. Its silver bars and coins did even better, charting a 58.7% rise from 4.6 million ounces in 2014 to 7.3 million last year.

Mint official Andrea Lang cited the European Central Banks negative-interest-rate policy for the sales surge. Interest rates are negative at the moment and people don’t see any benefit of keeping their money anywhere, but at the same time they feel a little bit concerned about the future. They want to invest; they want to have a safe haven for their money, she said Friday.

And in the wake of news that the Perth Mint logged record profits in the second half of 2015, the Australian facility also says its March gold sales rose 29% to 47,948 ounces versus a month earlier.

The U.S. Mint also is seeing robust sales. Although its month-over-month totals for gold American Eagle and gold American Buffalo coins have dipped, gold Eagle sales rose 68.2% in first-quarter 2016 versus the same quarter in 2015.  And gold Buffalo sales are 7.1% higher in the first quarter of this year versus the first quarter of 2015.

Meanwhile, silver American Eagle sales are chugging along at a record pace, with more than 14.9 million ounces sold. That’s almost 24% higher than sales for the equivalent period a year ago and 2015 was a record year for silver Eagle sales!