Gold Exports Surge as the Dollar Softens: What the Trade Data Shows

Cargo thieves hoping to snatch a container filled with gold bars at the Port of Long Beach or indeed any other West Coast ports will be disappointed to learn that only 40 kilos of the precious commodity passed through America’s Pacific Coast ports last year, all of it through the Port of Los Angeles.

Virtually all shipments of gold bars are airborne. Last year, maritime trade handled just 1,523 kilos of gold bars out of a total 1,134,797 kilos in U.S. gold trade. Almost all of those maritime shipments went through the Ports of New York/New Jersey, West Palm Beach, and Charleston. JFK International Airport alone handled 833,272 kilos. Rounding out the top five airports handling gold shipments were Salt Lake City (SLC); Miami (MIA); Cleveland (CLE); and Atlanta (ATL). None of these handled more than 10% of the tonnage handled by JFK.

One notable development is that the amount of gold exported from the United States in the first two months of this year was up 216.8% over the same period last year.