By Michael Ballanger
www.LeMetropoleCafe.com
Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Now, if we were to exclude U.S. gold scrap supply and domestic consumption, this would be the result:

U.S. domestic gold mine supply of 213 mt and imports of 265 mt (478 mt) is the same total of gold exports at 478 mt. Basically, the United States exported every bit of its mine supply and imports abroad.

U.S. Four-Year Gold Supply Deficit Equals One Hell Of A Lot Of Gold

If we add up total gold supply and subtract total demand since 2012, the United States suffered one hell of a deficit:

As we can see from the chart above, the U.S. experienced annual gold supply deficits since 2012. In 2011, the U.S. actually enjoyed a 215 mt surplus. What was interesting is that during the years when the price of gold surged (2009-2011), the U.S. reported more annual surplus. However, since the price of gold peaked (2011), it has been one annual deficit after another. I believe this is due to a significant “Trend Change” by the Eastern countries to acquire as much gold as they can get.

If we add up the annual gold supply deficits from 2012 to 2015, it totals 568 mt, or a massive 18.3 million oz (Moz). To give you an idea of how much gold that is, it equals all the Gold Eagles sold by the U.S. Mint from 1988-2015, 18.3 Moz:

So, in just the past four years, the total U.S. gold supply deficit equals all the U.S. Gold Eagle sales for the past 28 years. That’s a one hell of a lot of gold. It amounts to a $22 billion gold supply deficit, based on a $1,200 current market price multiplied by 18.3 Moz.