The downturn in gold prices so far this year has boosted demand for physical gold. Australia's Perth Mint showed record sales in the first quarter.
The data showed that it sold 130000 ounces of gold and about 1.6 million ounces of silver in March.
This level of sales is 285% and 178% higher than the monthly average since 2012, respectively.
Throughout the first quarter, Perth Mint sold more than 330000 ounces of gold and more than 4.5 million ounces of silver.
Jordan Eliseo, the agency's investment research manager, pointed out that this was the strongest quarter for gold sales at the Perth Mint and the fourth strongest for silver sales.
The performance of the whole precious metals market was quite low in the first quarter, with gold falling by about 11% and silver by about 9%.
