Crisis-hit Asia ships scrap gold to Switzerland
11:00 a.m. May 19, 1998 Eastern
ZURICH, May 19 (Reuters) - Scrap gold is pouring into Switzerland from
crisis-hit Asian countries eager to help shore up their shaky state
finances by collecting precious metals and jewellery from citizens,
official data showed on Tuesday.
Swiss customs data for April showed an overall trade deficit of 1.17
billion Swiss francs ($788.3 million) in the first four months of the
year. Excluding precious metals and stones, works of art and antiques,
Switzerland posted a 454.2 million franc surplus in the period.
The wider overall deficit ''stemmed substantially from a massive rise in
imports of precious metals, jewels and gems from emerging-market
countries in Asia,'' the Federal Customs Office said.
A customs office spokesman declined to reveal details, citing
regulations that block publishing data about flows of monetary gold into
and out of Switzerland.
''But it is actually so that precious metals were imported from this
area and...this is often to be melted down,'' he said.
Much of the scrap gold and granulate that comes to Switzerland is headed
for the country's refineries, where it can be melted down into gold bars
and re-exported.
South Korea, for instance, collected 243 tonnes of gold from citizens by
early March to help raise foreign currency for the cash-strapped country
rocked by the region's financial crisis.
It exported at least 228 tonnes gathered in the campaigns to help fill
up foreign-exchange reserves, but figures about the flow to Switzerland
were not immediately available. ($ - 1.484 Swiss Francs)
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. |
