Uzbekistan becomes world’s largest gold seller for the second month in a row

Uzbekistan became the world’s largest seller of gold for the second month in a row, the World Gold Council reported.

Net purchases of the precious metal by central banks in November amounted to 44 tons. The total volume of purchases amounted to 60 tons, decreasing by 4% compared to October. However, this is significantly higher than the monthly average of 36 tons over the past year.

The main buyer of the precious metal in November was Turkey, which purchased 25 tons. Poland is in second place with 19 tons. The top five also included China (12 tons), the Czech Republic (3 tons) and Kyrgyzstan (1 ton).

Uzbekistan sold 11 tons of gold in November, which is almost four times more than Kazakhstan.

At the end of 2023, Uzbekistan took second place in net sales of the precious metal, slightly behind Kazakhstan. China led the way in net purchases, followed by Poland and Singapore.

In October, Uzbekistan also became the largest seller of gold in the world, selling 11 tons abroad. WGC noted that switching between buying and selling precious metals is not an unusual phenomenon for Uzbekistan, since the local Central Bank buys gold on the domestic market.

According to the State Statistics Committee, in November Uzbekistan exported gold worth $1.28 billion. Over 11 months, revenue from it reached $8.15 billion, increasing year-on-year by 2.3 times.