The United Kingdom's gold exports to Switzerland jumped from 85 tonnes to 1,016 tonnes in the
first eight months of 2013 a twelve times increase. Some bullion market watchers attribute
the huge increase to withdrawals or sales from ETFs an explanation that covers only half the
story.if that.
Switzerland, according to the Koos Jansen website, has exported nearly 500 tonnes of gold to
Hong Kong through July, 2013. Hong Kong, in turn, has exported over 1200 tonnes of gold to the
Chinese mainland over the same period. Now, with this report of ramped-up exports from the
United Kingdom, another piece of the puzzle falls into place and we begin to get a fairly clear
picture what these gold mobilizations entail. Switzerland and Hong Kong are acting as a conduit
of western gold on its way to China and probably Chinese central bank reserves.
