Official Notice of 'Temporary Suspension of Sales' Sent to Commercial Banks
As gold prices soar to unprecedented heights, some commercial banks and the Korea Gold Exchange will not be able to sell gold bars for the time being. This is because the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) has suspended gold bar sales amid a surge in gold demand caused by growing global economic uncertainty following U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated announcements of tariff increases.
On the 11th, KOMSCO sent an official letter to commercial banks requesting the suspension of gold bar sales and posted the same notice on its online shopping mall.
According to the notice, KOMSCO is temporarily halting sales of gold bar products due to raw material supply issues. KOMSCO stated, "We are currently doing our best to secure raw materials and will strive to resume sales as soon as possible."
It added, "Orders placed on the 10th will be produced and shipped sequentially depending on the raw material supply situation," and "We will notify customers once the delivery schedule is confirmed."
Accordingly, KB Kookmin Bank, which receives gold bars from KOMSCO, will stop selling gold bars starting from the 12th. The supply from the Korea Gold Exchange has also been temporarily suspended since November last year.
Woori Bank will limit sales to 1kg gold bars sold by the Korea Gold Exchange, excluding those from KOMSCO. Hana Bank and Shinhan Bank plan to maintain their sales as usual. However, gold bars with high demand may experience longer supply times or temporary sales suspensions.
This gold shortage phenomenon appears to be due to President Trump's initiation of a global 'tariff war,' which has caused a surge in demand for gold, a representative safe-haven asset. According to the financial sector, Shinhan and Woori Bank's gold banking accounts reached a record high of 277,551 as of the 10th. More than 20,000 new accounts have been opened in the past year since February last year.
Gold bar sales also reached 16.8 billion KRW this month, surpassing last December's monthly performance of 14.2 billion KRW. According to the Korea Exchange, gold trading value jumped from 55.7 billion KRW on the 3rd to 97.1 billion KRW on the 11th.
The price of a 1kg 'Gold 99.99' bar reached 159,410 KRW per gram as of the 11th, marking a 24.68% increase this year. International gold prices are approaching the historic milestone of 3,000 USD per troy ounce for the first time.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures prices surged more than 2% intraday on the 10th (local time), reaching 2,968.50 USD. Spot gold prices also soared to 2,911.30 USD per troy ounce, setting a new yearly high.
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