Refineries Imposing Surcharges and Suspending Production
Refineries Imposing Surcharges and Suspending Production
Metalor, one of the leading Swiss refineries, has recently introduced a per-oz surcharge on all its gold products due to shortages increasing the gold lease rate, the widening spread between spot and futures, and tariff-related factors.
Another major Swiss refinery, Argor-Heraeus, has suspended orders for all 50-gram and 100-gram minted gold bars.
Physical Bullion and Refining Capacity Shortages
Wholesale and retail physical bullion shortages are emerging in other regions as well. In South Korea, for example, banks have suspended gold and silver sales due to surging demand.
Reports have also suggested tightness of certain gold bar sizes at the bank retail level in China. However, with the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) being primarily physical—where most contracts result in physical delivery and withdrawals are possible for bars as small as 100 grams—China is well-positioned for a potential shift in price discovery from paper gold to physical gold.
Similarly, in the West, US institutional demand has skyrocketed with COMEX gold deliveries for Feb25 exceeding 60,000 contracts or over 200 metric tons. This comes on the heels of an immense 498 metric tons delivered in just the last two months. The sheer scale of these deliveries is overwhelming refineries and mints, stretching capacity to its limits and causing prolonged delays for new orders.
Keep stacking..shortages are coming.
