World's leading gold coin mint "on track" for 80-tonne year...

 

GOLD COIN sales from the Turkish Mint have already set a new annual record with three months still to go, according to a precious metals consultancy MetalsFocus.

 

Far outstripping "nearest rival" the US Mint with 69 tonnes of stamped gold coin so far in 2013, the Turkish State Mint has enjoyed a record year despite more than two months of strikes.

 

"The end of the strike is unlikely to see pent-up demand [for coin] emerge," says MetalsFocus, noting that the workers' action at the Darphane – resolved in September by a new wage deal – coincided with Turkey's strongest domestic gold bullion sales, during the summer wedding season.

 

"Prior to this [however] coin offtake had already surged," says the consultancy in its latest Precious Metals Weekly, "in response to low Turkish Lira prices" after gold's drop in April and then June.

 

Production of American Eagle gold coins so far in calendar-year 2013 totals 22 tonnes, up almost one-half from the same period in 2012.

 

Total gold bullion coin sales by the US Mint last month lagged September 2012, however, falling by 70%.

 

Silver coin and other minted-product sales by the Perth Mint in Western Australia meantime lagged September last year by 23% at just under 1 million ounces, data on the company's site show.

 

Without the strike, total gold coin sales by the Turkish State Mint "would also have been higher" MetalsFocus believes. Because it sees little evidence of heavy advance stockpiling by domestic dealers ahead of the wedding season. Backlogged orders delivered in September totalled only 2.7 tonnes.

 

Turkey's imports of gold coin and bar more than doubled in the first 8 months of this year from the same period in 2012, reaching over 230 tonnes. Analysts saw that as playing a large part in the country's growing trade deficit, which rose 17% to $50.6 billion in the first half of 2013.

 

Domestic gold coin, bar and jewelry demand rose sharply in the second quarter as prices fell, according to market-development organization the World Gold Council.