BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 30
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
Uzbekistan ranked first in gold sales in the third quarter of 2020, selling 35 tons of precious metal, Trend reports with reference to the report by the World Gold Council (WGC).
Turkey ranks second, selling 22 tons of gold and is followed by Russia with an indicator of 1.2 tons of sold gold.
“Demand for gold in the third quarter fell to 892.3 tons amid the continued fight against the coronavirus pandemic, which was the lowest since the third quarter of 2009,” Forbes notes.
Bloomberg notes that gold sales are linked to the fact that some producing countries have taken advantage of record metal prices to soften the blows to their economies by the pandemic.
The gold price rose to a record of $2,067 for an ounce in early August before adjusting to around $1,900 by the end of the third quarter.
Record metal prices were also seen in other currencies, including the euro, yuan, pounds sterling, and Indian rupees.
Earlier it was reported that Uzbekistan suspended gold sales. The country exported $5.8 billion worth of gold from January through August. There were no gold supplies in September.
Due to this reason, the share of gold in the total export of Uzbekistan decreased from 50 percent to 46.5 percent. The growth rate, however, is 45.7 percent ahead compared to the same period last year.
The share of gold in the country's total exports by September amounted to 50 percent. In monetary terms, the share of gold sold by the country in the first eight months of the year increased to $5.8 billion, having increased by 47.2 percent or by $1.8 billion over the same period last year.
Gold exports in Uzbekistan over the past five years have grown several times. So, in 2015 it amounted to $823.9 million, in 2016 - $738.2 million, in 2017 - $1.6 billion, in 2019 - $4.9 billion.
Uzbekistan became the absolute leader in gold sales in July 2020. The country sold 11.6 tons of gold. Mongolia is in second place with 6.1 tons of gold sold, while the volume of gold sold by Russia and Germany amounted to 0.5 tons each.
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