Perth Mint Gold and Silver Bullion Sales Rose in May

The Perth Mint produces Australia’s official gold and silver bullion coins on behalf of the Australian Commonwealth Government. An extensive range of 99.99% pure gold and 99.9% pure silver products are available across a number of different coin sizes. The current gold bullion coin series include the Australian Kangaroo and Lunar series, which offer nine different sizes. The silver bullion coin series include the Australian Koala, Kookaburra, and Lunar series with seven different coin sizes.

As a recent initiative, the Perth Mint has started reporting total ounces of gold and silver sold each month as minted products. So far, sales data has been provided for three months, but already some interesting trends and comparisons with US Mint gold and silver bullion sales are starting to emerge.

2012 Perth Mint Bullion Sales in Troy Ounces

	Gold	Silver
March	35,957.28	590,636.15
April	17,575.64	207,109.91
May	30,387.88	437,759.34

For the month of April, both gold and silver bullion sales experienced a sharp decline compared to the prior month. Bullion sales were down by 51.12% for gold and 64.9% for silver when compared to the prior month.

Sales levels rebounded strongly in May, with sales of silver bullion more than doubling from the low levels seen in April.

The same pattern of decline and rebound was also seen in the United States Mint’s gold and silver bullion sales over the same time period.

2012 US Mint Bullion Sales in Troy Ounces

	Gold	Silver
March	88,500	2,551,000
April	29,000	1,521,000
May	62,500	2,903,000

During the three months covered, the shifting demand may have been caused by fluctuations in precious metals prices. After reaching what has proven to be at least a temporary peak in late February, both gold and silver declined modestly in March. This was followed by flat performance in April, and a sharper decline in May. In recent history, sharp declines in metals have been accompanied by increases in bullion buying.

Going forward, it should prove useful to have bullion sales data from two major world mints to compare and contrast.