U.S. Mint Sees Lower Gold, Silver Coin Sales In February

Author: Paul Ploumis
04 Mar 2015 Last updated at 04:17:06 GMT
(Kitco News) - Falling gold prices in February did not entice investors to buy bullion coins. Data from the U.S. Mint shows gold and silver coins sales down compared to the previous month and last year.

According to sales data for February, total bullion sales from the U.S. Mint hit 49,000 ounces, down 75% compared to total sales in January of 196,500 ounces, and down almost 34% compared to February 2014 sales of 74,000 ounces.

The data shows that year-to-date the mint has sold 245,000 ounces of gold, down almost 17% compared to the first two months of 2014.

Although the silver market has held up better than gold, sales of silver coins were still down compared to the previous month and 2014. Last month the mint sold 3.022 million one-ounce American Eagle Silver coins, down more than 45% compared to 5.53 million coins sold in January, and down more than 19% from 3.75 million coins sold in February 2014.

On a positive note, silver coin sales have been stronger in the first two months of the year compared to 2014. Year-to-date the mint has sold 8.552 million coins, up slightly from 8.525 million sold during the same time last year.

In 2014 the U.S. Mint saw extremely strong silver demand as it sold out of 2014 minted coins by December. Last year’s data shows the strongest months for silver coins sales were October and March.

Courtesy: Kitco News